EatSleepWorkRepeat
by SpicyTomato
Summary: AU in which Alfred is forced to relive the same day over and over. USUK
1. Chapter 1 (Day 1)

_**Chapter 1 (Day 1)**_

_**Day 1**_

Alfred is rudely awaken by the sound of his alarm clock. He groans as he stretches his legs,reluctantly throws off his covers and slumps out of bed. He goes over to the kitchen area of his one room apartment to make himself a cup of coffee – if this won't help him start the day, nothing will – and then turns on the TV.

_**-Has been arrested on suspicion of brutally attacking and murde- **_

Alfred switched off the TV, not needing to hear the last syllable. His life was dreary enough, he would rather not be told about _another_ murder near his area of residence.

Alfred finished off his coffee before throwing off his clothes and getting in the shower. He let out a frustrated sigh as only cold water shot out of the shower head, his landlord must have forgotten to pay the water bill _again_. The American rested his head on the side of the shower as he let the water trickle down his body. When had he let his life become so...bad? Alfred was becoming tired of the same old routine, day in and day out.

* * *

><p>Alfred slipped on his shoes before exiting his apartment – he would have to skip breakfast again today as he was already running late – and almost bumped into his friend and neighbour,Toris.<p>

"Oh, sorry. I'm already late for work so I've gotta hurry. Speaking of which, why aren't you at work right now? Don't say my tardiness has rubbed off on you!" Toris chuckled as he and Alfred walked towards the elevator.

"Of course not. I managed to get a day off today." He replied and Alfred's eyes grew wide.

"How on earth did you manage that? Ivan would never-"

"Mr. Braginsky." Toris interrupted and giggled.

"Right." Alfred chuckled along. "_Mr. Braginsky_ would never be that nice. So, what gives?" he asked as they walked into the elevator.

"Well no, but it is in our working contract that we are allowed paid days off." Toris watched as Alfred raised his eyebrow in confusion and pressed the button on the elevator. "Yes, and I haven't used any of mine yet so..." He trailed off as Alfred began to grin.

"We can have paid days off?" Alfred's grin soon faded "Ah but I probably won't be getting any, not any time soon anyways." Alfred saw Toris' look of confusion and so he added "Ivan hates my guts."

"You know, you can still try and ask for one. Legally, you are allowed to have one. Did you not hear about the new legislation that the mayor put in place here?"

Alfred shrugged as the two of them walked out of the elevator and headed down the corridor. "I don't watch the news."

"Well if you did then you'd know that the law now states that if you work in New York City for more than eighty hours a year, you can gain up to forty hours of paid vacation time each year."

"Oh man. I bet Ivan hates this new legislation, the jerk."

Alfred waved his friend goodbye before they parted ways. Once he had spun around, he sighed. He could finally let go of his cheery act – for now at least – and pick up his pace. When he was with his friends he acted like he didn't care about being tardy, but he was really quite worried about what his boss would do to him if he turned up late for the gazillionth time in a row. Why he still had his job, he didn't know. But, he was thankful because he wouldn't be able to survive without it.

Alfred pushed his way past people in the struggle to get to work on time. He earned some 'Hey!'s and 'what are you, blind?'s and then checked his wrist watch – OK, so he was already late, but he needn't give up as he could at least avoid being _super_ late.

Alfred burst through the building door and headed towards the elevator; he let out a groan upon finding that it was out of order and so he charged up the stairs instead. Upon reaching the fifth flight of stairs, Alfred's chest felt like it was on fire. This was when he wondered,how had he let himself become so unfit? Back in his school days he was the famous quarterback of his football team, scoring more points than anyone ever before. He became a legend and role model to the younger years. And what would they say now? They'd laugh at him. He had a shitty apartment, _no_ love life, _no_ money and, for all he knew, by the end of the day he could have _no_ job too.

Once he had caught his breath, Alfred cautiously entered his work room. There was no sign of Ivan, maybe he would be off the hook after all. Alfred made his way over to his cubicle, feeling quite pleased that he had been able to get off scott-free. He sat in his office chair and grabbed his headset.

"Hello. My name is Alfred and I am calling you today to offer you a once in a lifetime-" he let out a sigh. Most normal people hung up within the first few seconds of realising that this was not one of their friends or neighbours, but rather a random stranger trying to get them to spend some of their money on worthless crap.

"It did not sound like that offer was 'once in a lifetime', to me." Alfred gulped and slowly span around on his chair to find his boss towering over him, wearing that usual smile that said 'I want to kill you so badly, but I'm too professional for that'. Alfred opened his mouth to speak but he was cut short by Ivan shaking his head. "No no. You see, maybe they would not have hung up had you not sounded like you cry yourself to sleep every night because of your pathetic life." It still amazed Alfred how Ivan's voice managed not to waver at all, and how his expression always remained the same – eerily cheerful. Alfred nodded as Ivan walked towards the window and gazed out of it as he continued "You see, if I sounded tired and and irritable when I was talking to you, that wouldn't be very nice. Would it?" Alfred nodded, but apparently that wasn't what Ivan was looking for. He paced back over to Alfred. "Would it?" he asked, slamming his hand on the American's desk but still managing to keep his cool demeanour.

"N-No. No sir." Alfred stuttered. He hated to admit it, but Ivan terrified him.

"Good." He smiled at his employee and then began walking away from his desk. Alfred sighed, at least Ivan hadn't noticed that he came into work late. "Oh and Alfred?"

'_Shit.'_

"Yes, sir?" He tried to ask with the utmost confidence, but his voice still wavered slightly.

"Why did you come in late again today?" Alfred froze as Ivan stopped walking away, he was expecting some sort of logical answer. Alfred tried to think of a lie, but Ivan wasn't an idiot. He decided it was best just to come clean.

"I took too long in the shower." There was a pause. The silence was broken by the sound of Ivan laughing, he turned his head to look back at Alfred.

"What? You are joking, yes?" Ivan walked back towards Alfred. "That is not a very funny joke."

"No. I just...lost track of time when I was in the shower." He mumbled. Ivan brought his gaze back to the window as Alfred waited patiently for some sort of reply.

"I think maybe I should fire you right now." Alfred froze. No, this couldn't be happening, he really needed this job. "What do you think?" He asked, turning his head to face Alfred.

Obviously that wasn't a real question. Any person in there right mind would say 'I think that's a bad idea.' wouldn't they? So what was he supposed to say in response? Apparently Alfred was taking too long to answer and so Ivan clicked his tongue.

"I think." He began and Alfred averted his eyes to the floor when his gaze was met. "You can keep your job." Alfred looked hopefully at Ivan. Maybe he wasn't such a bad boss after all; he had to admit that he should have been fired long ago. "If." He continued and Alfred's face dropped at the sound of those two letters. "You beg for it." The American watched in horror as a more devious smile spread onto his boss's face.

"B-Beg?" He asked.

"Yes. On hands and knees." Alfred paused. So he would either lose his job, or his dignity. "Do it now, please." Ivan uttered a little too forcefully and hastily for Alfred's liking. He looked around, everyone in the office had stopped working to watch, everyone would see.

So, it had come down to this, huh? At the end of the day, there was really only one choice. Reluctantly, Alfred got onto his hands and knees.

"Please let me keep my job." He mumbled.

"What? You need to be speaking up, now."

"Can I keep this job, please?" Alfred could hear the snorts and giggles from his co-workers and it angered him.

"Hmm? Oh, you want this job? Are you sure? I am not believing that you want this job-"

"Can I please keep my fucking job?" Alfred snapped. He had raised his voice so loudly that the room, that was filled with laughter just moments ago, turned silent. Ivan stood completely still. "Well...shit." Alfred mumbled. He already knew what would happen next and so he stood up.

"Why...did you raise your voice to me?" Ivan's voice wavered ever so slightly making him sound like a child who was about to cry, but somehow Alfred couldn't actually picture that ever happening.

"I didn't mean to...I just got frustrated and-"

"You're fired."

"Right." Alfred span around in one quick motion, grabbing his coat and belongings on his way out.

Alfred placed the box containing his belongings on his coffee table before throwing himself onto his bed. Now that he had come to terms with the fact that he was now jobless, Alfred became annoyed that he had rushed so much this morning. His stomach grumbled, reminding him that he still hadn't eating anything for breakfast. He got back up and walked straight out the door – it was a good thing he hadn't taken his coat and shoes off already.

The American was low on cash and so he decided to go to the coffee shop just down the street as they had good food for surprisingly cheap. He shivered as the cool air nipped at his neck, he really needed to get himself a scarf or something – but again, he just didn't have the money at the moment. Now all Alfred could think was: what next? What would he do now that he didn't have a job? He would probably not be able to pay rent and so he would have to move out; luckily Toris lived right next door so he would probably let him crash at his place for a while. But, then he would just end up free-loading off of him - which really wasn't what he wanted to do, even if it was the easy option. He really needed to start making a living for himself. What would his mother think-

Alfred was brought back to reality when his body collided with somebody else's as he entered the coffee shop.

"Oi, watch where you're going!" He heard the man call. So it had been his fault then.

"S-Sorry." He uttered but the man had already started walking away, mumbling 'git' under his breath. Alfred decided that he better hurry inside the store before he did that to anybody else - it was dangerous to leave him alone with his thoughts.

Alfred stood in the queue for a while, pondering over the difficult matter of whether to buy a chocolate chip or blueberry muffin. In the end he ordered a coffee and a blueberry muffin and sat in one of the comfy chairs in the back. He looked around, there were some other people in the store that were alone too but all of them were either using a laptop or other smart device or reading a book. He felt oddly out of place in this store, but that didn't stop him from coming every now and again.

Alfred rested his elbow on the arm of the chair and cupped his cheek as he gazed out of the window. New York always seemed so dreary, especially in these winter months. Alfred day dreamed about going on holiday to somewhere hot; he had always wanted to stroll down the sandy beaches of Spain, but unfortunately he had never had the money. As a child he had never really travelled either - this wasn't due to a lack of money, rather due to his parents wanting him to concentrate on his school work. 'It'll all be worth it in the end.' they said.

* * *

><p>Alfred began window shopping, but soon stopped as he realised he was getting depressed as he couldn't buy any of the shiny, amazing products that they were selling. So, instead, he ended up taking a walk; he thought it may have cleared his head a bit. But, before he knew it, he was back at his apartment building again.<em> 'I guess I just can't stay away.' <em>He sighed as he kicked off his shoes and took off his coat before flopping onto his bed again.

For the rest of the day, Alfred spent his time watching TV shows on his crappy television. He flicked through the channels again and again but nothing ever seemed to catch his eye. He sighed, and then began wondering, had he always sighed this much? Because it was even starting to annoy him now.

Feeling bored and nostalgic, Alfred shuffled around in his closet until he pulled out a box. He smiled softly, this was his memory box. He chuckled at some of the items he found in there, which brought back all sorts of memories. There were various movie tickets that he had saved - and he still remembered seeing all of those films when they had first premièred like it was yesterday. He pulled out his school yearbook and snorted at all of the terrible hairstyles that he and his friends had sported throughout their highschool years. He pulled out one picture. There he stood in the centre, all geared up in his football outfit, he had his girlfriend on one arm and all of his friends by his side._ 'Those were the days'. _He pulled out another photo, this time he was with his father, mother and twin brother. They all looked so happy, he peered in close to the face of him at around nine years of age.

_'You don't know what you're in for.'_

He slammed the lid back onto the box. He couldn't bare to look at it anymore. He didn't want to miss the life that he used to have, he wanted to make a new, better life for himself now. Alfred crawled into bed, he only noticed that he had started crying once wet droplets started to form on the pillow. He closed his eyes, finding the light from the TV weirdly comforting as he drifted off to sleep.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:**

Hello! So I had an idea for a kind of Groundhog Day inspired type thing which I thought could prove to be quite interesting. I haven't decided how many chapters I'll make this yet so I'll just see how it goes uwu Sorry if this first chapter isn't terribly exciting, I really just wanted to set the scene. But, don't worry, Arthur is going to make an appearance in the next chapter B) And there's gonna be romance - and lots of it! So stay tuned if ya liked it, and let me know what you thought :)


	2. Chapter 2 (Day 2)

**Chapter 2 (Day 2)**

_**Day 2**_

Alfred woke to the sound of his alarm clock. He reluctantly threw off his covers and got out of bed before making himself a cup of coffee and turning on the TV.

_**-Johnson has been arrested on suspicion of brutally attacking and murdering Dawn Holland, an elderly woman. We'll have more on this news later on.**_

Alfred raised an eyebrow as he sipped his coffee._'Weird'. _Without a second thought, he turned over the TV to another channel. After being engrossed in a wildlife documentary for an hour, Alfred finally noticed the time on his digital clock. _'Shit! I better get ready for work!'_ The American put down his coffee, raced over to his wardrobe where he began frantically pulling out clothes and hastily putting them on. All of a sudden he stopped and face-palmed himself.

"Duh. You got fired, remember? Idiot.." He mumbled to himself. The blonde sighed as he threw off his work clothes and jumped back onto his bed, to continue watching the lion devour the warthog, in just his underwear. He got tired of this quickly however, and so he began flicking through the channels, like usual.

Now that he thought about it, him now being unemployed had disrupted his usual morning routine. Yes, today just felt like a Sunday – the only day he didn't have to work – but at least it was a start. Maybe this was a sign that things were going to start going right for him. Alfred settled on watching one of those crime shows, he remembered watching these as a kid secretly when his parents weren't home – his mother always told him that violence was bad, and so he began craving it. He used to own violent games that he played on the latest video game consoles as well, but he had to sell them a while back in order to pay for rent.

A little while later he heard a knock on the door.

"Come in, it's open."

"Darn it Al! I really hoped that the sound of that loud cop show wasn't coming from your room. And you're not even near ready..." Toris entered Alfred's apartment and closed the door behind him.

"Hmm? What do ya mean?"

"What I mean is, you're going to get fired if you bunk off from work." Toris sighed as he gestured towards the coffee machine, after Alfred gave the OK he began making himself a cup of coffee.

"That's the thing. I kinda...got fired yesterday." Toris turned around, his mouth agape.

"Oh Alfred. What did you do? Oh no...Now I have to put up with Ivan all by myself.." He shook his head and smiled gently at Alfred. "Ah well. I bet you're pleased that you won't ever have to see him again. At least I won't have to see him today."

"How come?" Alfred asked, turning his attention back to the TV.

"Well...I somehow managed to get a paid day off today." Alfred looked up at his friend who was now grinning.

"And you're allowed to take two in a row?"

"I guess you could if you wanted to." Toris resumed making his cup of coffee. "I don't think I'd have the guts to ask for two though."

Alfred chuckled. "But you did manage to in the end though."

"What do you mean?" Toris took his cup of coffee and sat besides Alfred on his bed. "You really ought to invest in an actual sofa, Alfred." He uttered but, as he expected, Alfred's attention was on the TV program.

"Mhmm. But yeah, so what did you actually do with your day yesterday? I don't think I caught you after I almost knocked you over yesterday morning." He chuckled but then his laughter died as he looked at Toris who had one eyebrow raised.

"Umm...Are you still tired, Alfred? We were both working yesterday so, really, I did the same thing as you all day." He chuckled lightly as he got off of Alfred's bed. "Anyway, I better get going. Perhaps I could try reasoning with Ivan to get you your job back?"

"Okay...Sure.." Alfred waved his neighbour goodbye before turning his attention to the TV again. That sure was odd, he thought. He could've sworn that Toris wasn't at work yesterday, but he looked eager to leave so he wasn't able to ask him more about it. Not that it mattered.

* * *

><p>Alfred's tummy once again reminded him that he needed to get something to eat. He opened up his cupboards and then cursed under his breath, he had forgotten to do some shopping for quite some time. Perhaps he had been putting it off since he found it so boring and the temptations were all too much for his tiny wallet. After getting dressed, he decided to go back to that coffee shop that he had gone to yesterday where he could finally have that chocolate chip muffin that he had decided against buying the day before.<p>

Alfred decided to concentrate more upon entering the coffee shop, he didn't want to actually end up hurting anybody. Upon entering the shop, he was surprised to see some of the same people that were there yesterday. They were sat in the same seats too, maybe they had a liking for those seats in the way that Alfred had a liking for his own seat at the back of the-

Alfred frowned as he saw that someone was already sat there. He examined the man. The blonde had a book in one hand and what looked like a cup of tea in the other; one leg was placed over the other like this guy thought he was a somebody. Alfred knew just his type.

"Stuck-up jerk." He muttered under his breath. The man glanced up, almost as if he had heard Alfred. Alfred's eyes grew wide. That was the same man that he had almost knocked over the day before. He quickly turned away once his gaze was met. Now Alfred just felt bad. First, he had bumped into this man due to his own clumsiness and now he was insulting him even though he didn't know the first thing about him. After ordering his coffee and muffin, he took the empty seat opposite the man.

"Hello." He said cheerily and the man raised an eyebrow in response. What was it about New-Yorkers and not being friendly? "This coffee shop is nice..don't you think?" He asked, attempting some form of small talk. He at least wanted to get some sort of reaction out of this guy before apologising for what a clutz he had been the day before.

"Mhmm." The man buried his head into his book once again.

"So..." Alfred sipped his coffee and began looking around the room, there must be something that he could ask that would get a longer answer out of this man. The plan was to become antiquated with this guy, and then apologise so he wouldn't feel so bad about almost knocking him off of his feet. But that clearly wasn't working, this guy didn't seem very friendly at all. "My name is Alfred by the wa-"

"Do you mind? I'm trying to get some reading done." The man scowled before sipping his cup of tea. Alfred really had hit the bullseye with this one, who said you should never judge a book by its cover? In this case the cover was just as unsightly as the inside.

But Alfred refused to give up. He enjoyed a challenge, and he was going to crack this nut. Alfred gobbled up his chocolate chip muffin in a few bites before uttering "Ohh, so you are British then?" The man once again raised an eyebrow as he reluctantly removed his gaze from his book. "I thought it sounded like that yesterday, but I wasn't sure. I was a bit out of it, ya see." He began chuckling but the man furrowed his brow in confusion. "If you're acting so coldly towards me because of yesterday..Well, I really am sorry. Ya see, I got fired and-"

"Are you bonkers, or something?" The blonde man interrupted, a hint of amusement in his voice.

"What? No I...Yesterday, I almost bumped into you when I came into – well here, actually." Alfred gained a blank expression in reply "You...You don't remember that?" He chuckled nervously.

"I didn't come here yesterday." It was now Alfred's turn to raise his eyebrow. "Whoever you thought you bumped into, it wasn't me. Sorry, I am not who you are looking for. Now, if you don't mind.." The man gestured to his book and continued to read.

"O-Oh. Yeah..you're probably right. I didn't even see the guy properly since-" Alfred stopped upon hearing a frustrated sigh come from the book. "Right...see ya then.." He left a pause so he could at least learn the man's name. After hearing no reply he continued "See ya then, eyebrows." before exiting the building, leaving his almost-full cup of coffee behind in the process.

Alfred shivered as the cool air smacked him straight in the face the moment he stepped outside. Maybe he should have just stayed inside the coffee shop, but that guy's crude aura had started to bug him (That and the fact that the rude Brit had practically asked him to piss off anyway). But what could he do now? Now that he thought about it, he had spent the majority of his time working and so he really didn't know what to do with all of this free time that he now had.

Alfred began walking down the street when he felt his phone vibrate in his jacket pocket.

"Hello, Alfred." The American almost dropped his phone in surprise, Ivan's heavily accented voice was something that he thought he would never have to hear again.

"H-Hi sir." Alfred shook his head. Ivan was no longer his 'sir', he was just a random guy to him now. "What do you want?" He added in an attempt to regain himself.

"Why are you not working? Ah ah ah...give me none of the lip, please."

Alfred scoffed "Isn't it obvious?"

"Are you suggesting that I am an idiot?" Alfred could hear the tenseness seeping into his voice.

"Is this a joke to you? Well how about this then? Fuck you!" He then hung up the phone, feeling quite pleased with himself. Now _that_ was something that he never thought he'd do. But the more he thought about it, the worse it became. That really was such a childish thing to do, he should have said something more mature. But, ah well, he thought. It was over now.

* * *

><p>Alfred had no idea what to do with the rest of his day, who knew being jobless would be so boring? In the end, he decided to take a trip down to Macy's. He hadn't been there in a while and he had always liked to do this thing where he would go around the store and actually make the employees think that he was interested in buying their products. He would ask them a lot of questions and if he was browsing the shoes or clothes he would ask for different sizes so the employees would have to keep checking the stock room. When he got bored, he would just use the old 'You know what? I don't think I'm actually going to buy these today.' and then leave to the sound of frustrated sighs. But hey, the customer is always right, or so they say. Alfred didn't bother to check his wallet as he knew he was broke and wouldn't be able to afford a cab over there, but hey, it wasn't that far a walk. And, after yesterday, it really seemed like he could use the exercise.<p>

"Hmm..you know, I don't think these are the right size either." Alfred stated whilst glancing in the mirror at the brown, leather, wing-tip boots that were on his feet.

"Really?" The female employee commented, trying to hide the frustration in her voice. "They look like a good fit to me." She was right, of course. They fit perfectly. If Alfred had the money, he would definitely buy these shoes. But then he wondered, should someone like him be able to wear these kinds of shoes? He glanced to the side at his scruffy Nike trainers and then to himself in the mirror. This morning he had just thrown on his grey sweatpants, white T-Shirt and red hoodie – he hardly looked like someone who would wear the shoes that were currently on his feet that didn't at all match his outfit. Maybe he only wanted the shoes because he thought that they would help him feel like less of a coach potato and more of a wealthy, respected man. _'Well that's just depressing.'_ He sighed.

"Actually..I don't think I'm going to be buying anything today." He glanced awkwardly at the woman who's eyebrows twitched in anger.

"I see...Could you..wait here a moment, please?" She asked, giving him an obviously forced smile. Alfred nodded as he watched the woman march off. He sat himself on the available seating as he took off the shiny, new shoes in favour of his own, tatty ones. Maybe it was for the best that he didn't have money to buy the shoes he thought, brushing the soft leather with his fingertips. They would probably take a while to break in as well and he would probably get all sorts of blisters because of that. Sure, his trainers were old and groggy but at least they were reliable. He tied up his laces before looking up to find a large man towering over him.

"Sir, do you find it amusing to meddle with our employees?" Alfred frowned and stood up, only to find that he was much smaller than the beefy guy in front of him.

"Uhh.."

"We do not tolerate this kind of thing here. If you want to waste your time, do it elsewhere."

"Hold on. What the heck have I done? What happened to 'the customer is always right'?"

"Sir. You've been here for the last three hours and for the majority of that time you have been trying on various shoes, but refusing to buy _any_." Alfred felt himself shrink slightly into his baggy hoodie at the force of the man's words.

"It was an honest mistake-"

"Fine. Whatever you want to call it, please, either buy something or leave. I really do not want to have to physically remove you from the store."

"Yeah, yeah." Alfred mumbled before turning around and heading for the elevator. He thought that being jobless would mean that he wouldn't have to obey strict rules anymore or be told what to do._ 'I guess there aren't as many perks to be jobless as I originally thought.'_

* * *

><p>Feeling slightly depressed, Alfred soon found himself outside of a local bar. <em>'Must be instinct.'<em> he thought as he entered – if his body wanted alcohol then by god he was going to give it to it.

The blonde sat at the bar and signalled to the bartender. "Jack and Coke, double-short."

Since it was happy hour – meaning all cocktails were half price - and, since he had only gotten a McDonald's for his dinner, he figured that he might as well treat himself. As the American chugged back his drink, he couldn't help but wander why he hadn't resorted to alcoholism years ago - but then he remembered, he was poor. Alfred's train of thought was interrupted as he noticed a familiar man walk out off the bathroom.

He straightened out his shirt before heading to the bar and met Alfred's gaze. The man then quickly averted his eyes in the hope that Alfred hadn't noticed but, of course, he had. The blonde perched himself on the furthest stool away from Alfred before ordering himself a beer. Alfred couldn't help but feel a little offended, who on earth did that guy think he was? The American didn't waste any more time before sliding into the seat next to him.

"Hello again, eyebrows." Alfred chuckled as the other man sighed that same frustrated sigh that he had heard from that female employee a few hours before.

"Say that again and I'll throttle you, I swear to god." Alfred then decided to keep his mouth shut for a while, this guy was clearly in a bad mood. But, again, he refused to give up.

"I suppose there's no getting rid of you, then." The blonde man finally uttered, breaking the awkward silence. He took a long sip of his beer.

Alfred grinned. "Why would you wanna get rid of me?"

"Because you're annoying." The American frowned and he could've sworn that that put a slight quirk to the Brit's mouth.

"Well, at least I'm not boring." The shorter man placed his drink down on the bar before turning to face Alfred, his lips moulded into a smirk.

"You think I'm boring?"

Alfred grinned. "Without a doubt." The two locked eyes for a moment before the man averted his gaze back to his beer.

"Just because I am more intelligent than you, doesn't mean that I'm boring." He stated confidently before taking another swig. Alfred's mouth grew agape slightly, but he covered it up with a chuckle.

"Hold on. What makes you think that I'm..some kind of moron?"

"Ah, but I never said moron. I simply said that I am more intelligent, that's all." Alfred gritted his teeth at the sound of patronisation in his voice.

"Okay, well what gives you the right to assume that?" The Brit rolled his eyes at the anger that was making its way into Alfred's voice.

"Oh please. Isn't it obvious, Alfred?" The American grinned which caused the stranger to once again avert his gaze and sip his drink.

"Woah. You remembered my name."

"I met you this morning, what did you expect?" he responded dryly.

"I must've made an impression on you, huh?" Alfred winked at the man who, once again, rolled his eyes.

"Yes, the wrong impression."

"I still don't know your name, by the way." The was a slight pause as Alfred watched the blonde man chug down the remainder off his drink.

"It's Arthur." He replied before wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. Alfred snorted in response. "What's so funny?" Arthur asked, raising his voice slightly.

"Nothing.." That was just the sort of name that Alfred expected this man to have. The other names he considered were 'Edward' and 'Henry' – he didn't know why he assumed that this guy would have the name of an English King, he certainly didn't deserve to be treated like one.

Arthur narrowed his eyes at Alfred before grabbing his smartphone out of his pocket, he gazed at it for a moment but quickly shoved it back into his pocket when he noticed Alfred was staring. Silence once again grew between them. Alfred really didn't know what to say next, clearly Arthur wasn't the talking type. But, when the Brit ordered another beer, Alfred had an idea.

"I'll buy it for you, if ya like." Arthur stared at the American man before furrowing his brow in confusion. "Really, I'd be happy to." He smiled at the Brit, who clearly wasn't having any of it. He dropped his smile. "Look, a stranger is offering you a free beer. Why don't you just take the offer and stop being so sceptical?"

"Fine." Alfred grinned as he got out his wallet. "Bartender? Another four beers as well, please." Alfred's mouth formed an 'O' shape and he turned to find that Arthur was now smirking.

"Y-You're not really going to drink all of that...are you?"

"Just you watch me."

Once the bartender brought over all five beer bottles, Arthur wasted no time in chugging them down, one by one. Alfred watched in amusement. He didn't look it, but maybe this guy really liked to party. Alfred got a bit worried that he wouldn't be able to afford the drinks that his new stranger-friend was already swigging down but, to his surprise, he did have some money left over. _'Weird.'_, he could have sworn that he had used up that money on food the day before.

"Ahh." Alfred watched as Arthur wiped his mouth with the back of his hand again. "See...told you I could do it." Alfred snorted as Arthur's words were already starting to slur.

"Dude, I never said you couldn't do it."

"Shut up. I just proved that...I'm _bloody well_ better than you." Alfred burst out laughing. The sophisticated image that this guy claimed to have was now completely gone as he swayed from side to side and then grabbed Alfred's shoulder. "Shut...It..Youu...You don't know me..git..You don't know my life..You..." he released his grasp on Alfred and gave a loud groan before his head came into contact with the bar.

Alfred continued to laugh, but he couldn't help feeling bad for the guy. Clearly, he had a lot of insecurities deep down and maybe Alfred had been judging him wrong this whole time-

"Fatty." Alfred's mouth grew agape as he watched Arthur poke his stomach and laugh.

"Hey! I am not fat!" Alfred exclaimed, swatting his hand away and starting to feel self-conscious.

"Fuck off. Bloody..yank..." Arthur's words lacked their earlier bite and he groaned again "Turn out the light." He whined.

"Hey, watch it!" Was all Alfred had time to say before Arthur passed out and fell onto the floor.

Alfred couldn't help but feel guilty as he watched the paramedics carry Arthur out of the bar; He had only wanted to get him a little drunk, in the hope that he wouldn't be so tight lipped, so Alfred could learn more about him. Alfred didn't know why he had become interested in knowing this guy all of a sudden, he thought; it's not like after today he would ever see him again, not that he thought that would be a good idea anymore. Even the thought of Arthur having to get his stomach pumped made Alfred shudder, so what on earth would that prissy guy think when he came around?

Alfred trudged into his apartment and flicked on the light before kicking his shoes off. He noticed the flashing red light on his home telephone, so he went over to it and held the phone up to his ear whilst pressing the voice mail button.

_**Six new messages. Message one.**_

"_**Hi Al. I phoned Ivan, , like you said and I tried to get your job back but...He said that he never fired you. Are you sure you didn't just dream that, or something? Call me back when you get the chance."**_

_**Message two.**_

"_**Hey Al, it's me again. seems really mad...I'm trying to just enjoy my day off but he's been pestering me all day! Please say you'll be at work soon!"**_

_**Message Three**_

"_**Hello, Alfred. Hanging up on your boss is very rude, do you not think? I expect you to be at work in the next hour or...I may have to take some extreme measures. Have a nice day."**_

_**Message Four**_

"_**Alfred? Where are you? I've tried calling your mobile but it's not picking up. Call me, okay?"**_

Alfred decided to skip past the next two messages; He suddenly felt more guilty than before; Toris was trying to be a good friend and Alfred had completely let him down. Sure, he had forgotten that he put his phone on silent after his conversation with Ivan and he had been out all day but – really, this was all Ivan's fault. This must have been his idea of a joke. Alfred was 99% sure that he had been fired yesterday – and in the most undignified way! - So he just didn't understand why he was still pestering him.

Alfred turned on the TV in the hope that he could get all of these frustrated thoughts off of his mind but, to his dismay, the same boring shows were on that had been on the previous night. Alfred reluctantly began watching the show about the little girls in pageants, that he had criticised on numerous occasions for being _terribly_ entertaining, and so he was glad when he heard a somewhat angry knock at his door.

"Come in. It's op-"

"Alfred!" Toris exclaimed as he stormed inside. Alfred had never seen him so angry.

"...Yes?" Alfred stared blankly at his friend, which only seemed to make him more angry.

"Where on earth have you been all day?"

"Oh uhh...Out and about..Y'know.." Alfred averted his gaze to the floor.

"He fired me." Alfred looked up, at the sound of Toris' wavering voice, and his mouth flew open in shock. "He fired me and he fired Eduard and he fired Raivis..." The blonde's mouth moved but the words failed to come out. "He plans on firing every one of your co-workers until he sees you back at work.."

"Toris...I-I'm so sorry-"

"I thought that I have always been here when you needed me..but where were you when I needed you?" He turned away and wrapped his arms around himself before continuing. "I needed that job Al, you know I needed it. _You_ needed that job too..so why.." He trailed off.

"I'll fix it. Okay? I thought Ivan was just pulling a prank on me or something but, I swear to god, I'll get you your job back." Toris remained silent for a moment before turning to face Alfred.

"I don't know if you can..You know what Ivan is like...But, if you don't get me my job back and you fail to find a job then...we'll probably both end up homeless." He sighed before he left Alfred alone with his awful TV program.

Alfred slammed his fist on his bedside table as soon as Toris had walked out the door. He didn't understand what was happening, but all he needed to concentrate on now was getting his and his co-workers' jobs back. He looked at his clock. _'It's getting late. I guess I should call it a night.'_ And so Alfred turned off the TV, took off all of his clothing items except for his underwear, and climbed into bed. He closed his eyes – he would have words with Ivan first thing tomorrow morning.


	3. Chapter 3 (Day 3)

_**Chapter 3 (Day 3)**_

_**Day 3**_

_**-brutally attacking and murdering Dawn Holland, an elderly woman. We'll have more on this news-**_

Alfred was sick of this news story. Wasn't everybody tired of hearing about the brutal murder of innocent old Dawn Holland already? And yet the news couldn't seem to get enough of this story. Alfred gulped down the rest of his coffee before flicking through TV channels. His eyes lit up upon seeing his favourite cop show, but he soon sighed upon finding that it was the same episode that they had aired yesterday. However, he continued to watch it anyway since he had nothing better to do – Plus, it was a good episode.

A little while later he heard a knock on his door.

"Come in."

"Darn it Al! I really hoped that the sound of that loud cop show wasn't coming from your room. And you're not even near ready..." Alfred froze. He just had a weird case of Deja-vu.

"Uhh..."

"Seriously, Al. You're going to get fired if you keep bunking off from work." Alfred stared blankly at Toris.

"Are you...pranking me?" Alfred asked before chuckling. "Ha ha, very funny. But on a serious note, I was gonna call Ivan up by phone but do you think it would be better if I went in to see..." Alfred trailed off as he watched Toris' face grow confused. "What?"

"Are...you okay, Al?" The brunette asked before going over to the kitchen area of the room. Alfred gave the OK before Toris even signalled that he wanted to make himself a drink, which Toris found a little strange. "You're acting weirder than usual.."

"B-But...But what about your job?"

"Oh!" Alfred heard the excitement in Toris' voice. "That's the thing. I actually managed to get a day off today." He turned around to Alfred and smiled.

Alfred just stared, his mouth agape slightly. What on earth was going on?

"Yeah I know..It's quite shocking." Toris finished up making his cup of coffee before joining Alfred on his bed. "You didn't get one today too did you, by any chance?"

"I...Uhh..I didn't even know that you could get them until...a few days ago.."

"Really? Haven't you heard about the new legislation that was put in place? It states that if you work in New York City for more than eighty hours a year, you can gain up to forty hours of paid vacation time each year." Alfred began to tune out. Something fishy was going on here. "Alfred?"

"Mhmm. Yeah.." Alfred got up off of the bed and began looking for his sweatpants, which he could have sworn he had left on the floor the night before. Toris watched as the American hesitantly headed for his closet and slowly slid the door open. "No..Goddamn it, no!" Alfred exclaimed as he angrily snatched the sweatpants that were hung up there.

"Is...something wrong?" Toris questioned as he sipped his coffee.

"I...I must be going crazy..No! I refuse to believe that! I am going to get to the bottom of this." He threw on a shirt, sweatpants and hoodie before putting on his trainers and heading out of the door.

Toris watched from Alfred's bed as his neighbour rushed out of his own apartment. "Goodbye...then?"

* * *

><p>Alfred marched straight into his work building; He let out a groan as the elevator was still out of order and so, once again, he headed up the stairs. Once he got to his work floor, he charged through the door. Alfred surveyed the room whilst huffing and puffing in the doorway; all of his colleagues were looking at him, some started to whisper amongst themselves.<p>

"Late again, Al? Woah, this must be a new record!" One sniggered.

"Hmm? What is so funny in here - Ah. Alfred, so you have finally decided to be joining us today." Ivan brought his hands together and smiled at Alfred. "While we are on the subject, why did you come in late again today? Please, tell me now, I am _dying_ to know." His gaze grew sharp, but his smile remained soft.

"Let's speak in your office, shall we?" Alfred didn't wait for a reply before heading for Ivan's office. The Russian stood in his way.

"Ah ah ah...You are not permitted to enter the office without my saying so." Alfred averted his gaze as Ivan towered over him. "And what do I say? I say_ no._" Before Alfred could say anything else he had been spun and around and guided back to his cubicle. "Uh-Oh. Do I have to be asking you again now? So be it." Ivan forcibly pushed Alfred down onto his office chair and then slammed his hand on the desk. "_Why_ are you _late_?".

Alfred glanced at the relaxed smile on Ivan's face before standing up out of his chair. "You fired me _two_ days ago."

"No no no. You see, I remember when I fire people because it gives me great pleasure and happy face." Alfred raised an eyebrow to Ivan who began strolling towards that same window. "But right now, I am sad. You have made me sad, Alfred." The blonde took in a breath of air to speak but he was cut short as Ivan spun around. "I am so sad that I may need to start firing to be happy again." Alfred watched as Ivan's eyes darted to the empty desk next to his own. "Hmm. Ah! I knew one was missing." He clapped happily "Toris, is it not? Where is he today?"

"You gave him a paid day off." He mumbled, but it seemed that Ivan still heard him.

"Oh dear..." Alfred heard the excitement slip from his voice. "Well that is no good," Ivan brought his gaze back to the American. "Alfred? Please tell Toris that he is fired."

Alfred just stared. He couldn't comprehend what was happening; all he could think was that Toris being fired was the only thing that he wanted to prevent at all costs. He didn't know what to do, he didn't know what to say.

So he just burst out laughing.

"Oh? Is this funny to you also? Would you like to watch me fire more?" As the American kept on laughing, the Russian snapped his fingers and pointed to another colleague. "Raivis, you're fired. Get out of my sight, please."

"Please...sir!" He cried, but Ivan ignored him.

It was clear to see that Ivan was becoming frustrated as Alfred did nothing but laugh. "Eduard, you too. Get your things and leave now, please."

Alfred snorted before patronisingly patting Ivan on the shoulder and, for the first time ever, he actually looked agitated.

"Okay Ivan. Enjoy the remainder of your employees, 'cause I 'ain't ever coming back." He smiled at Ivan before spinning around.

"What? Oh no, you cannot just...quit...I-I must fire you!" He stuttered, panicking as his calm and happy façade was crumbling right before his eyes. "Y-You are fired!"

"Nope, I already quit. I have witnesses." He chuckled and pointed in the general direction of the gawking workers before walking out of the door.

"And it's Mr. Braginsky!" Ivan shouted after him.

* * *

><p>Alfred felt weirdly optimistic as he entered the supermarket. Sure, his life was dreary and boring and meaningless – but at least things couldn't get any worse, right? Alfred pondered on this thought as he threw some cheap, microwavable meals into his shopping cart. He smirked as he reminded himself of Ivan's face back at the office; he had never seen him so distraught. So, although he had now come to terms with the fact that being jobless was totally lame, at least he had been able to get that kind of reaction out of Ivan.<p>

A loaf of bread, a carton of milk, and a bottle of Pepsi later, Alfred headed towards the checkout. He glanced around him and was pleasantly surprised to find that he wouldn't have to queue for very long.

"It's weird to see this place so empty, especially for a Saturday." He chuckled to the cashier.

"Well yeah, that would be weird. But today is a Thursday." The worker chuckled along but stopped as Alfred only gave a blank expression in reply. "Dude, you do know that it's Thursday, right?"

Alfred opened his mouth slightly, but closed it again. He grabbed his shopping bags and grinned at the teen "Yep."

Alfred almost rushed out of the exit and moved out of the way of the door before he dropped his bags on the floor and began fumbling around in his pocket for his mobile phone.

"Thursday the Seventh of February. Son of a _bitch_." Alfred stared at his phone. This couldn't be right. He began hitting the back of the smart device with the palm of his hand, it must be broken – it _had_ to be. But that certainly didn't explain the fact that the cashier had told him that it was Thursday. _'Could have been an honest mistake.'_ He thought as he put his phone back in his pocket, grabbed his bags and headed home.

* * *

><p>After Alfred had put his shopping away, he wasted no time before leaving his apartment and knocking on Toris' door. He almost turned away but then stopped as Toris appeared a few moments later.<p>

"Hello-" Toris was cut off as Alfred walked into his apartment.

"What day is it today?" He asked, his expression unreadable.

"Umm..Thursday." Toris' face of concern grew as Alfred began to look worried.

"No it isn't." Toris raised an eyebrow. "It's Saturday." The brunette shook his head and Alfred watched as he picked up the remote for the TV and turned it on.

Toris gestured towards the news channel that had appeared on screen. Alfred's eyes darted across the text at the bottom.

"Thursday...the Seventh of February.." He mumbled. He even took off his glasses and rubbed them on the bottom of his shirt before putting them back on and looking again. Toris sighed and patted Alfred on the shoulder.

"Are you sure you're well, Alfred?" The brunette asked, his face and voice full of concern. Alfred turned to Toris and grabbed his shoulders.

"But I've already lived Thursday!" He exclaimed, Toris raised an eyebrow but then began to giggle. Alfred released him from his grasp. "W-What?"

"Sorry." He continued to giggle. "I just..can't take you seriously when you say things like that." He sighed before taking a seat on the sofa and patting the spot besides him. "Come and join me if you like, and stop all this silliness. There is someone I would like you to-"

Toris stopped as Alfred didn't say another word before heading towards the door.

"Wait! Where are you going off to all of a sudden? Oh! Also, I received a call from ." Alfred froze at the door. "He said that you had some news for me?"

"You were fired." Alfred mumbled.

"W-What?" Toris stood up from his seat, his mouth agape.

"I'll fix it-" Alfred began, he stopped as he got that weird feeling again.

_Deja-Vu._

He shook his head before he left Toris' apartment. The Lithuanian went after him but only watched as he grabbed his coat, locked his apartment door and entered the elevator.

So, Toris wouldn't believe him. But then, who would? He sounded crazy.

* * *

><p>Alfred desperately needed answers, he didn't know whether there was something wrong with him or the rest of the world. But something was definitely not right.<p>

And where do you go when you want answers? The library. Supposedly, knowledge lives at the library, Alfred pondered on this thought as he ascended the spiral,wood staircase, drifting his hand along the smooth banister as he did so. He had spend so much time at the library when he was younger, studying and playing video games on the computers, but he had never come here for his own pleasure really.

Alfred's eyes darted straight to the computers. Of course, he couldn't afford to get a computer and he once had a laptop but had to sell it, so he hadn't used an actual computer in a while - He just couldn't resist.

After a couple of hours of playing computer games, Alfred had a brilliant idea - He could email his twin brother. His brother Matthew had gotten a scholarship at a University in Canada so, once he had moved out, Alfred barely saw him. They Skyped for the first few months, but things soon fell flat. Alfred supposed that he had been jealous of Matthew in the past, he was moving forwards in the world whereas he was stuck in a rut. But, overall, he was proud of his brother. Especially since Matthew had been the opposite of popular in school, now he could laugh at all of the bullies that ever picked on him and called his names. Alfred tugged at the neck of his hoodie _'Me being one of them.' _Without a second thought, Alfred went onto his email and began writing to Matthew.

_**Hey, Matt!**_

_**How are things? I know we haven't talked in a while but..I just wanted to know how you're getting on! How are your studies? Got any lucky lady (or dude – I 'ain't judging!) on the go? **_

_**If you're wondering about me..**_

Alfred paused.

_**..I'm doing fantastic! It's great over here in the big apple, even though it's winter and it's chilly – things are going well! I also got a promotion at work today, so that's exciting! I've currently got a girlfriend of six months, and damn – is she a looker! You should meet her sometime soon, we should all catch up. I've been missing you, bro! But yeah, don't worry about me, things have never been better :)**_

Alfred glared at the smiley face he had just typed. _'Smug asshole' _he sighed before holding down the 'backspace' button on the keyboard. He watched as his message was wiped away, right before his eyes, and groaned as he put his head on the table. He couldn't deny it any longer – he was feeling depressed. The American's eyes darted over the shelves of books to his side. Alfred then signed off of the computer, got up out of his chair, and headed towards the shelves off books – what was the point of being at the library if he didn't read at least one book?

Alfred headed straight for the section of psychology books and buckled down for some real reading. He soon grew weary of this, however; even though his eyes darted across the page, even he knew that his brain wasn't really absorbing anything. A lot of the books, he also found, weren't specific enough. How was he meant to find a book titled 'It feels like I've already lived Thursday, am I crazy or is everybody else crazy?'. Alfred sighed once again as he glanced out the window, his cheek resting in his hand. The sky was becoming a dark violet, he should probably get going soon. The blonde looked to his other side and snorted upon seeing various well-dressed men. These guys were sat up straight, legs crossed, peering down their noses at anyone in their field of vision. _'Kinda like Arthur.'_ Alfred thought, and then his eyes grew wide.

* * *

><p>Alfred had thought it was a great idea, but he soon found it not to be once he entered the bar and Arthur was nowhere to be seen. The American sat at the bar and gestured towards the bartender, his eyebrow twitched when he realised it was the same man that had served him the day before.<p>

"Uhh...Same as yesterday, please." To Alfred's horror, the man just raised an eyebrow at him. Alfred bit his lip. "J-Jack and Coke...double-short?" The bartender nodded.

"Sorry, I don't remember. I get a lot of customers.." Alfred let out a sigh of relief. Of course, the bartender sees so many people day in and day out – it must be hard to keep track.

Alfred waited and waited, but Arthur didn't show up. _'Maybe he's still not well from yesterday, or maybe this just isn't his regular bar..'_ Alfred put on his coat and headed towards the door when he almost bumped into a man entering.

"Oi, watch it." The man mumbled. Alfred stared in shock as Arthur walked over to the bar. The American span back around; he felt a bad, worried feeling in the pit of his stomach. That's when he realised; His real plan hadn't been to talk to Arthur about everything that had happened to reassure him, it was to wait at the bar. If Arthur didn't turn up, that was good and it meant that everything was fine and he wasn't crazy. But if Arthur did turn up then it meant...

"T-The same day." He stuttered as he rushed to Arthur's side.

"I beg your pardon?"

Alfred felt every ounce of denial he had soon wither away. It all made sense now. The repeated news story, bumping into Arthur and then seeing him in the coffee shop the next day, Ivan not remembering that he had fired him...

"It can't be.." Alfred whispered.

"Are you bonkers, or something?" Alfred groaned in response whilst pulling on his hair. Arthur's expression softened. "Bartender. Make that two beers, please."

* * *

><p>"I'm telling you, I've never seen you before in my life." Arthur stated before taking a swig of his beer.<p>

"I know, but I've bumped into you..four times now." Alfred averted his gaze to the floor, he knew this sounded ridiculous. He too took a large gulp of the beer that Arthur had bought him, in the hope that it would nullify all of his emotions, before looking up to find a smirk on Arthur's lips.

"_You _are in need of some serious professional help." Alfred could hear the amusement in his voice.

"Do you...think this is funny?" Alfred asked, his voice cracking. Man, this guy really was a cold-hearted jerk.

"How could I not?" He took another sip of beer before turning to Alfred and continuing. "Aw, look. And now you look like a lost puppy." He chuckled. "I'm sorry, I have no patience for your kind."

"My..._kind_?" Alfred furrowed his brow.

"Yes. You've clearly made up some story because you want something from me. I've bought you a beer but, still, you continue to stay in my presence. So, why is that?"

Alfred gritted his teeth. "It's not a made up story. And no, I don't want anything from you. What could I possibly want from someone like you, Arthur, Mr. Prissy asshole himself?" Alfred averted his gaze to his beer. Silence grew and Alfred began to worry that he had made Arthur mad, which was bad because he still needed this jerk to believe him – at least _someone_ had to believe him or he was sure he was going to go crazy.

"How do you..know my name?" He asked, his voice calm and lacking any agitation.

"I told you." Alfred sipped his drink before turning to Arthur. "I've met you already-"

"Who told you my name?" Alfred chuckled at the sudden force in his voice.

"You did. What's the big deal, anyway? It's just a name.."

"Unlike you, I like to keep my personal life private." Arthur stated.

"So..what you're saying is, you must have really liked me to tell me your name." Alfred grinned as Arthur rolled his eyes.

"Oh please." The Brit averted his gaze and Alfred continued to grin.

Silence once again grew between them. Alfred looked at Arthur, he was wearing the same black trousers and green sweater vest that the had been wearing yesterday, and probably the same ones that he had been wearing when he first bumped into him. Now that he thought about it, Toris had been wearing the same outfit too these past three days; Alfred hadn't really noticed though and just assumed that the Lithuanian had forgotten to do his laundry or something. But someone like Arthur, who claimed to have a respectable image, would certainty wear different clothes_ every_ day.

"Didn't your mother ever tell you that it's rude to stare?" Alfred was suddenly brought back to reality and he watched as Arthur averted his eyes before taking another sip of beer.

"Sorry. I just can't help myself." Alfred winked at Arthur who furrowed his brow. "You look like my grandpa." He snorted as Arthur swallowed the beer in his mouth before roughly placing the bottle on the bar.

"Shut up. You look like a fat, homeless man." He sniggered, watching as Alfred's mouth flung open.

"Hey..what is it with you and calling me fat." He mumbled glancing down at himself. OK, so a hoodie and sweatpants weren't the most flattering choice of clothing in the world – but Alfred refused to believe that he could actually be considered as fat. "And I am almost homeless."

Alfred met Arthur's gaze, he could have sworn that he saw sympathy in those green eyes of his. "Green huh? That's an unusual eye colo-"

"Stop staring!" Arthur interrupted, once again averting his gaze as Alfred chuckled.

"You're funny."

"And you're an idiot."

Alfred watched as Arthur swallowed the remainder of his beer. "Oh, I'd watch out if I were you." The shaggy blonde raised an eyebrow. "You have a low tolerance-"

"Shut it." Arthur raised his palm to face Alfred "You're not my mother. I don't need your input." He continued, Alfred scrunched his nose up at the bitterness in his voice and frowned as the Brit rose up from his chair and began putting on his beige trench coat. Arthur glanced to Alfred who looked confused. "I suppose I have had enough to drink for one evening. But I'm stopping because I want to, not because you told me I should." Alfred grinned in response and nodded.

Once Arthur did up the buttons on his coat and tied the fabric around his lean waist, he headed for the exit. Alfred panicked. Sure, Arthur wasn't the nicest person in the world, but Alfred didn't want him to leave.

Arthur stopped and turned to face the blonde American. "What are you waiting for?" Alfred stared for a moment before grabbing his coat and leaving an over-generous tip for the bartender – if this whole 'repeating the same day' theory he had was true then the money would still be in his wallet the next day, so it was no problem. Alfred quickly followed Arthur who had already exited the bar.

He stopped outside the door as he saw Arthur putting on his scarf and getting a cigarette out of his pocket. Alfred watched as Arthur put it in his mouth before pulling what looked like a silver Zippo lighter out of his right coat pocket.

Arthur raised an eyebrow to the staring American as he lit the cigarette and took a long drag. "What? Never seen a man smoke before?"

Alfred shook his head slightly once he realised that he had been staring. "Of course I have." He chuckled. "I smoke too, y'know." Arthur snorted. "What?" He asked, a little offended.

"Sure." Arthur commented before having another puff and blowing the smoke upwards. Alfred hated to admit it, but Arthur did look really cool when he was smoking. "If you are a smoker, where is your lighter?"

"I uhh...Don't have it on me at the moment." Arthur snorted again.

"Incredible." He chuckled softly. Alfred furrowed his brow; He really did used to smoke back in highschool, but he only did it because his friends did and he hated every minute of it. He couldn't stand the idea that it could kill him someday, but just had the undying desire to look and be cool. But, he wondered, did he ever look as cool as Arthur did right now?

"Alright, alright. Don't strop." Alfred noted that Arthur was a bit drunk by the way his worlds were slurring and how much more playful he seemed to be than before. "Here." He said as he removed the cigarette from his mouth and put it in to Alfred's. "Now, show me how a true smoker would smoke."

Alfred was startled by the sudden cigarette in his mouth but he took a long drag anyway – just to prove to that jerk that he really did smoke. But, to his dismay, he began coughing and Arthur burst out laughing. _'Damn. Its been a long time..'_ Alfred looked down at his shoes, embarrassed that he had made a fool out of himself.

Once he had stopped laughing, Arthur took back his cigarette. He glanced at Alfred, who still looked distraught, before tutting. "It's a dirty habit. You should think yourself lucky." He stated before taking a puff. Alfred glanced at Arthur. If he didn't know any better, he could have sworn that that was Arthur trying to make him feel better – but still, there was that hint of patronisation that Alfred hated.

"So, why do you smoke?" Arthur hesitated briefly before blowing smoke in Alfred's face.

"Because I need to."

"Why did you start?" The Brit furrowed his brow before dropping his cigarette on the floor and stubbing it out with his shoe.

"I don't remember my life being any of your business." He stated coldly before he began walking down the street.

Alfred followed behind. "Okay, okay. Sorry, didn't mean to overstep some boundaries, or whatever. I'm just glad that you actually believe me and-" He was cut off by Arthur's scoff.

"You think I believe your little story?" Alfred frowned at the amusement in his voice. "I am merely humouring you."

"Hey!" Alfred stepped in the way of Arthur. "Do you know how difficult I've had it these past few years?" Arthur stared blankly in response. "It's been the same thing, day in and day out. Get up early, go to work at the job I hate with the boss that wants to kill me, go home and go to sleep. Imagine that, _everyday_." Arthur's lips partly slightly and he grew rigid as Alfred walked forwards, forcing him to take a step back. "But now, God thinks that it would be funny to literally have me repeat the same day. Is that something that seems worth humouring?"

Arthur stared, gawking for a moment before he shoved Alfred out of his way. He couldn't hide it though, Alfred had seen a glint of something in his eyes that he would make sure that he saw again.

"Who do you think you are? I decided to play along because I thought it could be amusing for a while. But, don't you see? I could care less about a drunk stranger that I met in a bar." Arthur tried to keep his composure calm and disinterested as he put his point across, but agitation was clearly present. "If it's money you want then here, take it." Alfred flinched when Arthur grabbed some change from his pocket and flung it towards him. "I have no patience for people like you, nor do I want to associate myself with someone of your kind. So, would you kindly leave me alone?" Arthur scowled before spinning around and picking up his pace as he walked down the street.

Alfred decided not to follow. He just stared as the Brit's figure faded out into the foggy, winter air.

* * *

><p><em>'Your kind.'<em> Alfred stared at his ceiling. What did Arthur mean by that? He sat up on his bed, rubbing his eye as he reached for the TV remote with his other hand.

Alfred was startled as he heard a knock on his door. _'Toris.' _He already knew what he was going to say; He was going to talk about work and about Ivan and probably about what he had heard had happened in the morning. Alfred didn't want to deal with that at this moment, so he decided to mute the sound on his television and remain silent.

A moment later, the knocking stopped and Alfred figured that Toris must have given up and gone back to his apartment room. Alfred turned off the TV – he didn't want Toris to hear it from the other side of the room and come knocking again, and there was nothing interesting on TV anyway.

He sighed as he flopped back onto his bed, his thoughts immediately turned to Arthur and what he had said. Sure, perhaps he had come on a little strong with him. He couldn't help it, he was becoming desperate; he needed to know that he wasn't crazy. Alfred scrunched his nose up when he reminded himself of the way Arthur had looked down on him. The American had originally thought that Arthur had bought him a beer because he was being friendly, but Alfred now knew that the real reason was because he pitied him. Yes, Alfred didn't help himself either. The way he looked, and the way that he had _admitted_ that he was practically homeless.

But what if Alfred was someone of 'his kind'? Would Arthur be willing to listen to his thoughts and take him seriously then? Alfred smirked. If he really was repeating the same day, then he would know exactly when and where to find Arthur. He glanced at the time on his digital clock before placing his glasses on his bedside table. He pulled his duvet around him and closed his eyes – Alfred knew exactly what he would do tomorrow, or rather, today.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:**

I just wanted to say thanks for all of the kind reviews and messages so far ^^ I honestly don't know why this concept hasn't been done before, it's been so much fun to write so far! I'll try and be frequent with my updating - I was supposed to have this up a couple of days agooo ;w;; Thanks again for reading!


	4. Chapter 4 (Day 4)

_**Chapter 4 (Day 4)**_

**Day 4**

Alfred's eyes sprung open and he sat up a little too quickly - he felt disorientated for a moment but shook it off as he grabbed his glasses and put them on. He went to reach for his phone that he had placed next to his glasses on the bedside table the night before, only to find that it wasn't there.

The American groaned as he got up and headed to his closet; He pulled out his jacket and reached into the pocket, sighing as he lifted out his phone and brought it to life. He glared at the home menu.

_'Thursday the seventh.' _So now he was ninety-nine percent sure that he was repeating the same day.

Alfred wasted no time before throwing on his usual hoodie, sweatpants and sneakers – at least he didn't have to do any washing - before locking up his apartment and rushing out the door.

* * *

><p>Alfred had killed some time by walking to a fancy restaurant across town to get some breakfast. It was when he got his wallet out, to hand the money over to the nice lady over the counter, that he realised he didn't have enough. He had been too busy thinking about the fact that all of the money he spent on every Thursday so far appeared back in his wallet the next day, that he had forgotten one crucial point – he was still poor. Alfred sighed and frowned as the delicious looking stack of pancakes and ice cream sundae he had ordered were carried away.<p>

This could threaten to ruin his whole plan for the day. Where was he supposed to get money from? He considered robbing a bank because he only wanted to borrow the money and it would be back where it was the next day. Plus, he would only be in prison for that night – but it just seemed like an awful lot of hassle and he preferred to get the money though means that meant he didn't cross paths with the police.

That's when he thought: Toris had always been there for him in times of need. And, although he would feel bad conning him out of the cash that he barely had enough of anyway, at least it would be return to him the next day as if it had never been gone – That was, if Alfred hadn't fixed his problem by the end of the day.

Alfred returned to his apartment building to find Toris leaving the elevator.

"T-Toris! I need a really big favour." He jogged up to Toris, who looked surprised to see him.

"Alfred? Why aren't you working-"

"Never mind that now, I...I need some cash!" He watched as Toris furrowed his brow and then sighed. Alfred smiled at his neighbour as he grabbed his wallet out of his back pocket.

"Alright. How much do you need?" He smiled back but his smile faded as he saw Alfred gaze into the folds of his wallet, biting his lip.

"Uhm..Don't you have anymore?" He cringed at his own words, he sounded so ungrateful. Toris' mouth moved open and closed but he didn't say anything.

"What do you need this money for, Al?" He asked, inspecting Alfred's embarrassed face.

"Uhh..." Should he admit the truth to Toris? No, he would just get the same reaction that he had gotten the day before. "Man, I'm sorry dude. I didn't mean to spring this on you.." He trailed off, averting his gaze to the floor and pulling his best puppy dog look. "It's just...Ivan-" He was stopped as he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up to see Toris smiling sympathetically at him.

"Come on upstairs. I've got some extra money up there."

* * *

><p>Alfred whistled cheerily as he closed the cab door and strolled into Macy's. He had felt even more guilty when Toris had opened up a box full of money, that was presumably his savings, and ended up giving him a more than generous amount. Perhaps it was his fear of Ivan that had motivated Toris into giving him all of this money, but Alfred still felt bad for lying to his close friend.<p>

All of Alfred's guilt was soon forgotten as he walked past all of the men's wear. Alfred had never really gone shopping before, his mother had always bought his clothes for him. He remembered going to the mall sometimes with his girlfriend ,when he was in his teens, but she soon became frustrated with him as he refused to try on all of the clothes that she threw at him. But, right now, he just couldn't wait to try on all of the swanky clothes.

He earned some raised eyebrows and snobbish looks from the employees as he strolled into the most sophisticated area of the store in his tatty Nike sneakers, hoodie and sweatpants – but once he discretely flashed his cash, they soon became interested and plastered false smiles onto their faces.

"You look great, sir." Alfred almost scoffed at the word 'sir', but then he looked in the mirror.

He had decided on a light blue shirt under a red, V-neck sweater, black dress pants accompanied by a brown, leather belt and a brown bomber jacket with a black shearling collar.

He _did_ look great.

The blonde stared for a moment, gawking at the reflection staring back at him.

"Y-Yeah." Alfred stuttered bringing himself back to reality in time to put on that all important scarf. He took a few steps back, admiring his outfit. "Yeah. I do, don't I?" He said with confidence this time. The American looked at himself from the smile on his face down to his...socks. Alfred frowned, but then he perked up.

"Now then, I suppose I should get myself some shoes." He uttered to the employee in his poshest accent. "I'll take all of these clothes on my body too, my good man." He gave the worker a firm pat on the back before heading to the check-out desk and throwing various dollar notes onto the table. "Keep the change." He said with a wink before wandering over to the shoe section.

"Y-Yes sir! But..what shall we do with your old clothes?"

"Throw them away, give them to a homeless man, burn them, I really don't care." He replied.

Alfred slid across the panel flooring and over to the men's shoe section, he looked up to find that same female employee who's brows were already furrowed. The American cleared his throat as he put on his more sophisticated façade. He grabbed a pair of brown, wing-tip boots before shoving them into her arms.

"Bring me these in the next size up." She glanced at the price tag and then nodded politely before rushing off to the stock room. Once she had returned, Alfred wasted no time before putting them onto his feet. He hesitantly walked over to the mirror, and was relieved to find that they matched his coordinated outfit perfectly. "Great. I'll take them." Alfred stated before shoving his old trainers into her arms. "Dispose of these too." He watched her eyebrow twitch, but then that same forced smile appeared on her face.

"Of course, sir."

* * *

><p>Alfred was in the bathroom, making sure he had pulled out all of the tags from his new clothes when he checked his phone. His face dropped when he realised that he had ten missed calls from Ivan. He shrugged it off, remembering that back at the apartments he had told Toris to not answer a phone call from Ivan under any circumstances, so he would at least be safe from being fired.<p>

Now that Alfred was looking super slick, he just needed the all important final thing to complete the look.

Alfred got a cab down to Walmart where he scanned the selection of Zippo lighters they had on offer. In the end he decided upon getting one that was plain black with a matte finish, he had been tempted by some of the other choices, but he had decided that this looked the most sophisticated out of all of them.

In order to make himself the most sophisticated guy Arthur had _ever_ seen, Alfred also decided to buy some cigars – all the best historical figures smoked them: John F. Kennedy, Bill Cosby and, of course, Winston Churchill – and Arthur would be _sure_ to appreciate that.

Once he had filled his lighter with lighter fluid, he practised smoking the cigar down an alleyway – he didn't need to have Arthur mock him some more and if he blew this his whole cover would be blown. Alfred had never smoked a cigar before so he was sure to Google the proper way to do it on his phone before he tried. Once he was satisfied that he had gotten the technique down and looked cool enough, Alfred got a cab down to the bar.

* * *

><p>The, now sophisticated-looking, American opened the door slightly and peered in. He quickly spotted Arthur sat at the bar – right on time. By his calculations, Arthur should have just arrived at the bar. And so, Alfred cleared his throat and made sure his clothes were straightened before heading inside.<p>

He sat himself next to Arthur, who seemed to be confused as to why this stranger had sat next to him whilst there were various other bar stools still available.

"Bartender. Guinness for me.." He moved his gaze to Arthur "And one for my friend here." He continued with a wink. Arthur stared for a moment before he shrugged his eyebrows and averted his gaze.

Alfred turned his attention to Arthur. "Nice to meet you. My name is Alfred." He smiled softly at Arthur – he didn't grin because he had found that the Briton seemed to roll his eyes a lot when he did.

"My name is Arthur." The blonde stated before averting his gaze to the beer that was placed in front of him. "Thanks for the drink. But it wasn't necessary."

Alfred furrowed his brow. So, as soon as a sophisticated looking stranger comes along, Arthur has no problem sharing his 'personal details'. He then relaxed his face. "It wasn't necessary, but I hope it is appreciated." Alfred watched Arthur's reaction closely as he began to drink his beer, making sure to not gulp it down like he would usually do. All he gained was a nod in reply from the shaggy blonde, so he decided to turn on his charm.

"I find your accent very...charming." He stated boldly, he smirked as Arthur looked taken aback by his words. The Brit scoffed and shook his head lightly before taking a swig of his beer. "No, honestly. Where are you from?"

Alfred watched as Arthur paused. "London, England." He replied, placing his beer back onto the bar. Alfred could have sworn he heard sadness seeping into his voice. Best to stay off of that topic then, he noted.

After that, Alfred couldn't think of anything to say. He and Arthur were strangers – well from Arthur's point of view – so it wasn't like they had things that they could talk about.

"Do you come to bars often?" Alfred was surprised to hear Arthur ask. It was strange, he thought, Arthur was like a whole different person now that Alfred wasn't acting his usual self. His tongue wasn't as sharp and he hadn't thrown any insults at Alfred since the conversation began.

"From...time to time." He replied, hoping that confusion wasn't present in his voice.

"Yeah. It's a good place to forget your troubles." Alfred watched as Arthur smirked at at him – and he wasn't quite sure why. He watched Arthur gulp down the remainder of his beer as his hand drifted to his jacket pocket.

"I'm going to go out for a smoke." Alfred stated as he rose from his seat.

Arthur nodded. "I'll join you, if you don't mind."

"'Course not." Alfred smiled at Arthur and the two walked outside of the bar.

Alfred positioned himself against the wall as he grabbed a cigar out of his pocket and cut off the end before grabbing his new Zippo lighter.

"Ah, a Zippo. I have one too." Arthur stated whilst shuffling around in his coat's left pocket.

"The right one." Alfred froze and Arthur paused before he reached his hand into the right pocket and pulled out his lighter. Alfred gulped but then gave an internal sigh of relief as Arthur grabbed a cigarette out of his pack – he didn't seem to notice.

The American lit up his cigar and Arthur didn't seem to realise that he was staring, there was a look in his eyes that Alfred couldn't seem to pin point. He continued to stare as Alfred placed the cigar in his mouth and took a long drag. The Brit snapped out of his momentary daze once Alfred softly blew some of the smoke in his direction, and began lighting his own cigarette.

"So, you more of a cigar bloke then?" Arthur asked before taking a puff of his cigarette.

"Both are fine. I just find...that cigars they...have a kind of aroma you can't get from cigarettes." Alfred hoped that Arthur would buy that bullshit – he hated the taste of the cigar. Arthur nodded thoughtfully as he took a drag, thinking it to be a perfectly acceptable answer, but still did not remove his eyes from Alfred.

Alfred noticed that he was watching, and so he inhaled the smoke and then puffed it out of his mouth in 'O' shapes – he was glad when Arthur looked impressed because it had taken him hours to perfect. Alfred smirked at the Brit, if only his yesterday self could see him now.

After the two had finished smoking, Alfred found himself being taking to Arthur's apartment. It was how he had expected it to be. Most of the furniture was modern and the kitchen counters were slick and black – it all looked very sophisticated. Arthur also had a big window in the living area which gave a perfect view of the lit city.

Arthur chuckled before he gently closed Alfred's gaping mouth with a finger to his chin. "It's quite a marvellous view, isn't it?"

"Y-Yeah..It's pretty marvellous."

"Well, don't just stand there gaping, come in." Arthur sat on his leather sofa and pulled over the ash tray as he lit another cigarette. Alfred stood awkwardly in the doorway for a moment before Arthur beckoned him in with his finger.

Arthur smirked as Alfred sat awkwardly on the sofa besides him.

"Care for a drink, Alfred was it?" Arthur didn't wait for a reply before getting up and heading over to the open plan kitchen.

"Yeah...and sure thing." He replied. It was only when Arthur had left that he realised something – he was completely off of his goal.

The whole point of him going through this effort wasn't to impress Arthur – well it kind of was, he did want his respect which he now seemed to have – it was to get Arthur to listen to him with open ears so he could finally get a rational answer as to whether what was happening to him could ever be considered normal or not.

His thoughts were interrupted when Arthur returned with a bottle of whiskey and two glasses. He poured the drink into each glass before handing one of them to Alfred. The American smiled to Arthur who was still watching him with keen eyes as he took another drag of his cigarette before stubbing it out on the ash tray.

"S-Shall we make a toast?" Alfred asked as he raised the glass.

Arthur shrugged. "I don't see why we can't."

"Okay. Then here's to us, two sophisticated strangers." Arthur chuckled and shook his head softly, but clinked his glass against Alfred's nonetheless.

The two chugged back their drinks and then placed their glasses back onto the coffee table.

Alfred then turned his attention to Arthur. He needed to start telling him about how the day kept repeating, but how was he supposed to initiate such a conversation without sounding completely stupid or crazy? Alfred watched Arthur stare at him; he saw a glint of deviousness in his eyes. His next breath out was shaky and, before he knew it, Arthur's lips were on his own.

He had never really thought about being with a guy before; He had always just been with girls – it was the norm, that's what his parents just expected of him. But, now that he thought about it, was there a possibility that he could be in a healthy relationship with a man? If he felt attracted to someone, he felt attracted to them and it wouldn't matter what gender they were. That's how he always thought of it.

Arthur pulled away as Alfred didn't kiss back. He raised an eyebrow. "Are we doing this, or not?" He barely waited for Alfred to nod before pulling him into another kiss. Alfred kissed back this time and the way their wet lips caressed against each other felt nice, so he figured that it was okay to continue. In fact, it had been such a long time since Alfred had kissed anyone that he soon found himself getting fully involved in the kiss, brushing his hands through the Brit's blonde locks as Arthur traced his tongue across his lip.

Arthur tried his best not to break the kiss as he pulled the stranger up from the sofa and led him to the bedroom. Once inside, Arthur pushed the door closed with his foot and continued to let his tongue explore Alfred's mouth. He reluctantly broke the kiss a moment later to catch his breath, letting only a trail of saliva keep them together, and licked his lips at the red-faced American before pushing him onto the bed.

As Arthur removed his bomber jacket and sweater, Alfred was only just catching on to what was going on. This had definitely _not_ been part of the plan. How was he ever supposed to talk to Arthur when he was giving him those lust-filled eyes? Alfred shivered as Arthur traced his tongue down his now bare chest and let out a small gasp as Arthur began caressing his crotch. A moment later, Arthur unzipped his dress pants and pulled them off.

Arthur let out a devious chuckle as he pulled down the American's boxers to reveal his cock being fully erect. Alfred squirmed away. He really needed to get his mind out off his thoughts because either he had been thinking for far too long, or Arthur was so eager and horny that he had completely undressed him in five seconds flat.

"W-Wouldn't you like to...talk, or something?" He asked, nervously chuckling.

Alfred watched as his stranger-friend pulled off his own sweater-vest and shirt. "I'm not really the talking type." He then smirked as he pulled off his own trousers.

"But..we hardly know each other." Alfred sat up on the bed, only to be pushed back down by Arthur a moment later. Arthur pinned the American down by his wrists, leant over him and began sucking on his neck. "Don't you think...we should slow..down?"

"Do you want to slow down?" Arthur asked in a half-hearted muffle. A moment later, he felt Arthur begin to stroke his cock which caused him to let out a shaky breath. Alfred completely forgot what he was going to say next and just stared at the ceiling whilst Arthur places wet kisses on his neck and caressed his member.

He hadn't had sex in such a long time – would he remember how to do it? And he had never had sex with a guy before either, obviously he knew the basics but he wasn't clear on the preparation or anything. What was he thinking? It's not like he would want to do it with the stuck-up jerk, and it's not like they were going to...

"Are we going to have sex?" Alfred blurted out. He felt Arthur freeze for a short moment before pulling back to look at him. His mouth opened but then closed again before he averted his gaze and stood upright.

"Have you...done this, before?" He asked hesitantly. Alfred took this opportunity to sit back up.

"Uhmm..Well I'm not a virgin, if that's what you're asking." He watched Arthur sigh as he stepped away from the bed and crossed his arms.

"No. What I mean is...casual sex." Arthur sighed again as he received a blank expression in response. "Some would call this a one night stand."

Alfred's eyes grew wide and he gulped. Arthur let out a groan before he began pacing up and down the room.

"So, you mean to tell me that you didn't mean for this to happen?" He stopped so he could scowl at Alfred. The American didn't know how to respond, so he just nodded. "But..you were flirting! You were sending me all the signals." That familiar agitation was now present in his voice.

"I-I was?" Arthur groaned again at how Alfred looked and sounded totally clueless. The Brit rubbed his face in exasperation.

"I can't believe this." He mumbled before staring Alfred straight in the eye. "You've made a complete fool out of me!" Alfred just sat there. He stared at Arthur who stood in his underwear with his hands on his hips, his hair was shaggy and his face red. He didn't know what to say.

"It's strange." Alfred watched as Arthur began to pick up his clothes that had been flung on the floor. "You seem like a completely different person to the one I met in the bar," Arthur scoffed "And I bet you're not even gay." he smirked but then stopped as he heard no reply from Alfred. He turned to find him biting his lip, his eyes averted to the floor.

He scowled at Alfred before shoving the clothes into his arms. "Just, get out."

Alfred didn't have time to say anything before Arthur left the room. Once Alfred snapped out of his thoughts, he began putting his clothes on as quickly as he could. Through the doorway, he watched as Arthur lit up another cigarette before walking over to his large window – he really didn't seem to care that he still only had his boxers on.

Alfred cautiously left the bedroom. Once he was in front of the apartment door, he paused. He glanced at Arthur who was gazing out the window, at nothing in particular, and puffing on his cigarette. Alfred opened his mouth to say goodbye, but then thought better of it. He let out a sigh before he left the apartment.

Arthur was such an ass, after all that and he just wanted to use him for sex. Alfred sighed as he walked down the apartment corridor. Not only had he not gotten anywhere with his plan, but now he had an uncomfortable boner. He began to regret how he had acted back in Arthur's apartment. If he had acted uninterested, then surely things wouldn't have progressed like that? Then again, Arthur may have already had his heart set on doing it with him so at least if he hadn't acted so dumbly he and Arthur could have relived themselves of some sexual frustration.

Alfred began to smirk to himself. _'I can't believe that it was my clothing style which was holding me back the whole time.'_ He furrowed his brow. This was just a theory, after all. Maybe it was the clothes, but Alfred began to wonder – if a respectable and sophisticated gentleman in a hoodie and jeans started chatting him up, would Arthur still take him back to his apartment for a one night stand?

A smirk made it's way back onto his lips. Maybe repeating the day wasn't so bad after all. He supposed that it could be quite a lot of fun for Arthur to be his guinea pig. At least if his attempts failed he wouldn't get embarrassed because it was only Arthur, plus, he already knew exactly where to find him. And, as Alfred now knew, Arthur was _easy_. The Brit was clearly as desperate as he was to get laid. _'But that's not very classy now is it, Arthur?'_. He chuckled to himself.

Alfred now had a new plan. After the day reset itself he would continue the same kind of routine as this day. Once he was at the bar, he'd act his usual self instead this time whilst wearing the clothes he would buy again from Macy's. _Then_ he would see if he could still get laid. If it worked, then all he needed to know for future reference was to dress better – it was so simple. Alfred was now glad that he had run into Arthur at the coffee shop and bar because he didn't know where he was supposed to find someone who was just as willing.


	5. Chapter 5 (Day 5)

_**Chapter 5 (Day 5)**_

**Day 5**

"Well, don't just stand there gaping, come in." Arthur sat on his leather sofa and pulled over the ash tray as he lit a cigarette. Alfred hesitated slightly before entering and closing the door behind him. He slipped off his shoes before sitting besides Arthur. At least he had been able to make it this far.

"Care for a-"

"No, thanks." Alfred interrupted a little too quickly. Arthur furrowed his brow.

"You didn't even know what I was going to-" He was cut off as Alfred's lips touched his own. Alfred pulled away - he probably should have waited until Arthur had finished his cigarette. The Brit scowled "What on earth are you-" but Alfred was quick to kiss him again, with more force this time.

Alfred grew concerned that Arthur wasn't going to kiss back, but it wasn't long before Arthur's tongue slipped into his mouth.

Alfred abruptly pulled away. "Yuck." He wiped his mouth and watched as Arthur chuckled.

"You're ridiculous. Do you know that?" The British man took another drag on his cigarette before it was pulled out of his mouth and stubbed out on the ash tray. "Oi!" he exclaimed before he was pushed down on the sofa.

Alfred saw what looked like a flash of excitement in his green eyes, but his brows were furrowed and he looked pissed off.

_'Pervert.'_

Alfred smashed his lips onto Arthur's and he kissed back hungrily. The way his hands were already threading through Alfred's hair and his legs were wrapped around his lower back were clear indicators that Arthur was just as sexually deprived as he was.

Alfred decided to put up with the disgusting taste of the cigarette for the sake of his experiment. Things started to get more heated as Arthur pulled off Alfred's bomber jacket and sweater before he began to unbutton his shirt, the American leant back and stared at the stranger's nimble fingers. Arthur caught him staring and licked his lips once Alfred met his gaze, causing the blonde to grow red-faced and nervous. Alfred shrugged off his shirt and then glanced at the blonde to find him looking expectantly back at him. He swallowed hard before pulling off Arthur's sweater-vest; he thought it was strange. When he first laid eyes on the prissy guy back at the coffee shop, he wouldn't have believed for a second that he would ever be undressing him and devouring his mouth. And, if it weren't for his repeating day situation, he probably never would have gotten the chance.

Arthur seemed to grow impatient and so he shuffled out of the rest of his clothes himself and let out a frustrated sigh as Alfred was struggling to undo his leather belt.

"For God's sake." He mumbled, slapping Alfred's hands away so he could undo it himself in half the time. Who knows, maybe Arthur was a pro at undressing men.

The Brit seemed relieved when the two of them while finally in just their boxers, but now Alfred was becoming impatient. He pushed the Brit onto his back and slipped his hand down his boxers before leaning over to suck on his neck. A moment later he was whacked on the back.

"Ouch." Alfred pulled back, rubbing the spot where he had been hit.

"Hold your horses. We can't do it here, I don't want my sofa to be ruined." Alfred raised an eyebrow to the British man. Arthur sure was nicer to him yesterday – perhaps it had all been an act in the hope of impressing the sophisticated American.

"The bedroom is over there." Arthur gestured towards the room which Alfred already knew to be the bedroom. The blonde stood up off of the sofa and Arthur smirked, Alfred furrowed his brow, wondering why he hadn't moved. "Carry me."

"What?"

"You heard me."

"Why the hell would I do that?" He watched as Arthur crossed his arms; he looked like pouting child.

"Because I told you to." There was a hint of playfulness in his voice that Alfred had never heard before, but those eyes looked determined – he wasn't going to budge. Alfred sighed before picking up the naked stranger bridal style; Arthur was surprisingly light.

"You're lighter than you look." Arthur jabbed Alfred in the stomach in response. "Hey! I could drop you, ya know."

"Drop me and I'll kill you." Alfred rolled his eyes as he entered the bedroom and placed Arthur on the bed. Was this guy even for real?

Alfred stood by the bed whilst fidgeting with his fingers; he was waiting for something to happen, but he didn't know what.

Arthur sighed before grabbing him by the shoulders and pulling him on top of him.

"What are you, a virgin?" Alfred grinned at Arthur's bluntness. This was a good sign, the more honest Arthur was the better – especially if it meant he could vent to him about his whole situation. Bringing himself back to reality, he quickly shook his head before placing a sloppy kiss on Arthur's mouth. The two continued to make-out as Arthur began palming the American over his boxers before pulling them down. Alfred let out a throaty moan as Arthur stroked his erect cock, he quickly moved to devouring the blonde's neck, becoming more eager with each nip and lick.

Arthur let out a moan as Alfred slipped a hand down his boxers. "I-I guess you can't be a virgin, you're far too eager." Arthur tried to sound his usual sophisticated self, but it was becoming difficult because of his breathlessness. "But..when was the last time you were kissed? You're so sloppy."

Alfred pulled away from Arthur's neck to meet his gaze. He was pleasantly surprised when he saw that he was red-faced with a smirk on his lips – he had expected him to look pissed off, like he usually did.

"And like you're Mr. Perfect." Arthur chuckled softly in response to which Alfred smiled. He already felt like he was getting to know the other sides of Arthur's personality, which meant that hooking up with him may not turn out to be totally pointless after all. "Okay so, since we're being honest here, you're a very good kisser."

Alfred watched Arthur scoff and avert his gaze. "I know." Alfred laughed. He couldn't remember the last time he really laughed, but he now noticed that when he was will Arthur, and the two were being themselves, he would laugh quite often. He supposed that once he had sorted out his weird problem, he would have to keep in contact with Arthur. Who knows, the two could turn out to be quite good friends.

Alfred snapped out of his thoughts as Arthur sat up and pushed him onto his back. He opened his mouth to speak but was stopped as the stranger placed a kiss on his lips.

"Don't speak." Alfred nodded, he figured it was best to obey the devious looking Brit.

A moment later Arthur began licking the head of Alfred's cock, he moaned and squirmed in surprise as Arthur's smirk grew wider.

Alfred's breath grew heavy and he gave some throaty moans as Arthur began sucking on the tip. Arthur pulled away and glanced at Alfred whose eyelids were heavy.

"You're such a tease." He whined. Arthur chuckled and Alfred gasped in surprise as the blonde inserted his whole length into his mouth. The American clung to the bedsheets as Arthur's sucking rhythm sped up. One thing was for sure, Arthur clearly knew what he was doing.

It had been so long – Alfred was worried that he would be finished any second so he was both relieved and annoyed when Arthur pulled his length out of his mouth.

"Sixty-nine?" He asked, before wiping a trail of saliva from his lips. Alfred nodded, still breathless, and shifted down the bed slightly. He grew anxious when Arthur climbed on top of him – he had never given a blowjob before. The American planted his hands firmly onto Arthur's hips before experimenting with light pecks and licks to the head of the Brit's cock. Alfred gave a few husky moans at the sensation of Arthur's mouth enclosing his own member in warm, wet bliss and he was encouraged to make Arthur feel the same waves of pleasure. The blonde guided Arthur's cock into his mouth and gave a few, firm sucks before quickening his pace. Once he found his rhythm, the Brit became a shaking, squirming mess and Alfred was relieved to hear his, very erotic, gasps and moans – he must have been doing something right. Gaining confidence, Alfred teased Arthur's bellend with flicks of his tongue, to which Arthur sucked harder in both frustration and gratitude. Between his pants and groans, the American took some time to grope and caress the round, perky ass above him – he supposed that Arthur did have a nice ass. The blonde released a strangled moan as Arthur suddenly began to fondle his ballsack while his mouth remained around his cock, sucking hard and fast.

It was too much; Arthur's mouth and tongue working his member, the erotic display of his naked body hovering over him, the sexy moans coming from the Brit's mouth. Before he knew it, Alfred's grip on Arthur's hips grew tighter and he was groaning into his blissful release.

Arthur swallowed before flopping onto the bed besides Alfred. Once the American pulled himself out of his momentary daze, he couldn't help but notice that Arthur still hadn't finished. The Brit caught him looking and looked as though he was about to speak, but he had no time as Alfred was soon hovering above him. He gave Arthur a wet and firm kiss on the mouth.

"Don't speak." Alfred repeated Arthur's words from earlier before he shifted down the bed slightly. The Brit's confused face soon turned to one of pleasure as Alfred swallowed his bulging member. The blonde sucked at a steady pace before he felt fingers tangling into his hair, urging him to go faster. Alfred glanced at Arthur and was met by a very erotic sight – The Brit's face was flushed, his eyes were squeezed shut and he was biting his lip as his grip on Alfred's hair tightened. After not long, Arthur's hips were thrusting upwards in instinct and his breathing was becoming erratic.

"Al-Alfred!" Arthur moaned before he found his own release into the blonde's mouth. Alfred could not help but feel strangely delighted at the fact that Arthur called out his name during his orgasm.

Not wanting to offend, Alfred swallowed his mouthful – it couldn't be that bad, right? The American scrunched his nose up at the strange, salty taste, but quickly forgot all about this once he noticed Arthur's post-orgasmic state. Alfred didn't realise that he had begun to move to Arthur's side, or how long he had been staring at the Brit whose eyes remained closed as his chest rose and sunk as he caught his breath. He certainly didn't realise their close proximity as Arthur's eyes slowly opened and Alfred was met with the most beautiful green.

Being like this almost felt taboo to Alfred. It didn't feel wrong, not at all, it just felt strange. Perhaps it was the fact that it didn't feel wrong _at all_ that made it feel strange; He almost felt as if he wasn't allowed to experience this kind of thing with a man, let alone Arthur.

But Alfred didn't regret it. He didn't regret it one bit.

Arthur's green eyes bore straight into Alfred's sky-blue ones and the American noticed his lips partly slightly, as if to speak. Alfred waited, almost too eagerly, for words to fall from the Brit's lips – a thank, a comment, _anything_. He was left disappointed however, as Arthur closed his mouth and finally averted his eyes – obviously thinking better of it.

Arthur climbed off of the bed and picked his boxers off of the floor before putting them on. Alfred did the same and started to put his shirt on, ready for Arthur to kick him out so he could go home and sleep, ready to start the next vicious cycle. But, to his surprise, Arthur stopped Alfred from putting any more clothes on by snatching the dress pants in his hands and chucking them across the room. Alfred then watched as the stranger sat on the bed and patted the space besides him. Confused, Alfred stared as Arthur began to light a cigarette that he had left on his beside table – probably an 'after sex' type thing. He hesitantly sat on the bed besides the British man and was startled as he was pushed down onto his back.

_'Are we having another round? Oh god, Arthur probably wants to _do it._ Should I say yes? I'm kinda tired and I still don't know-'_

Alfred's train of thought was interrupted as he felt Arthur rest his head on his chest.

"I'm not the kind to...you know." He took a drag on his cigarette, as if to let Alfred continue his sentence. Alfred stared blankly at the ceiling and so Arthur rolled onto his stomach so he could blow a puff of smoke in his face. "I'm saying, I'm not going to kick you out. You can stay the night."

Alfred met Arthur's gaze, he smiled at the green eyes watching him while resisting the urge to fan away the puff of smoke. "Okay. Thanks." His smile grew wider as he watched Arthur roll his eyes before leaning over him to stub out his cigarette on the ash tray.

Arthur rolled back onto his back and let out a big sigh.

"What's wrong?" Alfred asked, his gaze locked on the ceiling.

"What do you mean?"

"That long sigh. Was I not good, or something?" Arthur scoffed. "Oh I see, I was_ too_ good." A moment later Alfred had a face full of pillow. "Are you trying to start a pillow fight?" Alfred sat up and grabbed a pillow before whacking Arthur over the head with it. He snorted with laughter, but stopped as he saw a scowl on Arthur's face.

"You'll pay for that." Alfred didn't know whether to laugh or cry when he watched an evil smirk appear on the Brit's lips. Arthur grabbed a pillow whilst Alfred stumbled off of the bed and backed away from the stranger – he looked like he wanted to murder him.

Arthur paced forwards, getting his pillow into position as Alfred was backed into a corner. Alfred raised his hands up to surrender but Arthur's smirk only seemed to deepen.

A moment later Alfred was pelted ferociously with the pillow. "Ow! Okay, okay! You win!" Alfred continued to shield his face with his arms but let them drop upon hearing Arthur laugh. _Really_ laugh. Alfred couldn't help but laugh along too, his laughter was contagions. Alfred never would have guessed that someone like Arthur possessed such an amazing laugh. It wasn't embarrassing or annoying, it was warm and infectious.

* * *

><p>"I would have asked for your number, saying that we should do this again sometime, you know." The Brit traced patterns in the duvet with a slender finger.<p>

"Really?" Alfred met Arthur's gaze, he nodded.

"Yes. But there wouldn't be much point now." Arthur stretched his arms and legs as he rolled onto his back.

"What? Why not?" Alfred didn't mean to sound too eager, he was only interested in being Arthur's _friend_ after all. Arthur chuckled lightly.

"Well...You're a stranger, so it's not like it matters."

"I still wanna know." Alfred stared at Arthur, watching a frown appear on his face.

"I'm moving tomorrow." The American sat up, he was shocked, but he didn't really know why. Arthur gestured for him to lay back down before continuing. "That's why I went to that bar on a weekday. I wanted to drink all of my troubles away."

Alfred rolled onto his stomach, rested his elbow on the bed and cupped his cheek; taking in Arthur's every word. This was like a _gold mine_. Now he would have so much information on Arthur that the next days would be a breeze.

"You know, I thought that I was becoming desperate for possibly my last American, sexual encounter. But that was until I met you. Bloody hell, you came on strong." Arthur chuckled and Alfred smiled sheepishly.

"You didn't refuse me, though." Alfred smirked at Arthur who gave him a light shove.

"Didn't you just hear me? I was desperate."

"Sure you were." Alfred watched Arthur's mouth curve at the edges, he must have felt it too since he turned his head away from the American a second later.

"Sarcasm doesn't suit you."

"But?"

"But..." He rolled onto his side so he was facing Alfred and drifted his hand along the cotton of his shirt. "This shirt and that sweater over there do. And those dress pants."

"What about the jacket?" Arthur scrunched up his nose, causing him to frown.

"It's not my cup of tea." Arthur gently brushed the American's face with the back of his hand. He opened his mouth and Alfred got the feeling that he wanted to say something more than what was about to come out of his mouth. "But it suits you very well."

"Are you always this kind after your sexual encounters?" Alfred's response was another face full of pillow. "Okay, okay! Please don't start that again, it's actually terrifying." Alfred fixed his now askew glasses as Arthur rolled over on the bed to face away from him. "So...why are you moving?".

There was silence, and Alfred became worried that he had blown his chance to get some more information out of Arthur. However, a short while later he replied. "It's complicated."

"Wait, are you really moving? 'Cause I don't see any boxes around. Does 'moving' mean, like, going to visit, or something, over in England?"

"No, you twat." Arthur couldn't help but laugh at Alfred's ignorance. "Yes I am really moving, and my suitcase is over there in the corner. It takes time to move to a different country, you know."

"So, why aren't you happy about leaving?" He didn't give Arthur time to reply before he continued. "No, wait, I've got it." Alfred sat up and began leaning over Arthur who remained on his back. "So, you were totally fine about leaving. But then you met this totally cool American dude and now you really don't wanna leave."

Alfred's grin grew when he watched Arthur raise his eyebrow, but it faded once he saw his smirk. "You are quite right." Arthur too sat up, pushing Alfred out of his way in the process. He turned to look at him "He's not you, though."

"Hey!" Arthur chuckled as he pulled the duvet over them both.

"Honestly, Alfred. Are you usually this much of a child or am I just lucky?"

"You're very lucky." Arthur smiled whilst shaking his head lightly. Alfred did notice that Arthur seemed to bring out his more playful side, a side that he hadn't been seeing enough of recently. Sure, Toris was a great friend and he made his time at work almost bearable, but Alfred now felt like he really needed a guy like Arthur in his life. But, unfortunately, he was moving.

But he wouldn't be moving until _tomorrow_.

"Goodnight, Alfred." The American watched as his stranger-friend snuggled into the duvet and let out another long sigh.

"Wanna spoon?"

"_Goodnight_, Alfred."

Alfred chuckled before rolling onto his back and placing his glasses on the bedside table. He stared at the ceiling, remembering something important that he had forgotten to ask Arthur. He glanced over to the sleeping Brit, he looked as though he could slip into unconsciousness at any moment. He figured it could wait. Sure, this time he hadn't found any information to add the missing pieces to the puzzle that was Arthur's day, but he had made some progress that he was more than pleased with.

Alfred smiled and found himself glancing back over to Arthur. This evening sure was a strange turn of events, but Alfred had now decided that he liked Arthur and he felt like he would be able to confide in him about his problems. He wondered what the Brit would look like in the morning; would his hair be even shaggier than it was already? Maybe he should make him breakfast as a thanks for letting him stay the night. The Brit could do with a good breakfast, especially since he was going to be on a long flight tomor-

_Oh yeah._ Alfred frowned.

_There wouldn't be a tomorrow._

* * *

><p><strong>AN:**

I hope everyone is enjoying the run-up to Christmas! I would have done some kind of Christmas chapter, had this story not been set on the seventh of February - so I hope you enjoyed this smut instead! - Merry Christmas ;) Thanks again for all of the reviews/follows/favourites~


	6. Chapter 6 (Day 6 & 7)

_**Chapter 6 (Day 6 & 7)**_

_**Day 6**_

Alfred was startled by the sound of his alarm clock. He looked left and right before frowning; He was in his shitty apartment and Arthur was no where to be seen.

* * *

><p>The American had thrown on one of his work shirts and pants before exiting his apartment – they weren't as swanky as the clothes from Macy's, but they'd do.<p>

Alfred shivered as some cool air slashed right through him and wasted no time in entering the coffee shop in front of him; being sure to glance over to the corner of the room on his way in. He felt a surge of panic once Arthur was no where to be seen, but was calmed as he reminded himself that Arthur would definitely show himself soon enough.

Once he had bought himself a coffee, he sat in his favourite spot in the corner. He anxiously awaited for Arthur to show and soon found himself glancing at the entrance every couple of minutes. Alfred didn't know why he was so nervous, Arthur wouldn't even remember who he was or what they had done the night before. Nobody but himself knew.

Alfred felt his tummy flip once he spotted the blonde-haired, British man enter the shop. He quickly grabbed a hold of the newspaper on the coffee table in front of him and pretended to read, peering over the top so that Arthur wouldn't know he was staring, and watched as Arthur pulled off his scarf and draped it over his arm. Their eyes met all of a sudden and the Brit let a small frown appear on his face.

Alfred's tummy flipped again. Did Arthur somehow remember who he was? He watched closely as Arthur ordered his tea and then looked around the room as if he was trying to find an empty seat..._Oh._

The American watched as Arthur sat, somewhat reluctantly, on a table across the room. Alfred sighed; This wasn't going to work. Of course, Arthur wouldn't sit next to a total stranger and the last time he had already been sat down so Alfred was free to approach him. Now, how was he supposed to approach Arthur without it looking strange?

Alfred suddenly had an idea. He would just have to be bold, like he usually was. So, without dwelling on the situation any further, Alfred got out of his seat and approached the Briton.

"I couldn't help noticing that you seemed upset that I had taken your seat." Arthur stiffened before meeting the American's gaze; He wore a bright smile and had his hands clasped behind his back. "You're free to join me, if you want." Alfred gestured to the seat in the corner. He became worried when he received no response from Arthur – perhaps he had come on too strong.

"Was it that obvious?" Alfred felt himself loosen upon upon hearing that familiar voice. "Yes, it is my favourite seat. I'm not a child though, so you may have it. Besides, you can't always have everything you want." Alfred watched as Arthur sipped his tea, their gaze still locked on one another.

Seeing the curiosity in the stranger's green eyes, Alfred decided to push a little further. "Yeah, you're right. I would _want_ you to sit with me, though." Arthur froze as Alfred continued. "But, like you said, I can't always have what I want." He began walking away for the table, but stopped to smile and utter "It was nice to meet you, though." before going back over to the corner.

Alfred smirked to himself as he picked up the newspaper with one hand and his coffee with the other – he knew that Arthur was staring; he didn't need to look up.

A short while later, Alfred glanced up to find Arthur seating himself opposite him; He smiled, but Arthur only averted his gaze.

"The seat over there is too out in the open." Arthur mumbled as if feeling the need to justify his actions. Alfred restrained his desire to laugh.

"Yeah, you're right about that." Arthur gave the stranger a small scowl before grabbing a book out of his bag.

_'The Lady Chatterley's Lover' _Alfred noted the title of the book. 'Lover' would suggest that this book was something of a romance novel which in turn would suggest that Arthur was some kind of hopeless romantic. Now, all Alfred had to do was look into the book online at the library later, so he would have something to talk to Arthur about the next time he saw him. Arthur noticed Alfred's staring eyes and the slight quirk in his lips and so he put the book down.

"Didn't your mother ever tell you that it's rude to stare?" Alfred frowned at the familiar line.

"Yeah..sorry." He mumbled before taking a large gulp of his coffee. What had been the point in this? Arthur didn't remember a thing from the night before and he was back to being tight-lipped and rude.

"It's fine." Alfred glanced at Arthur, surprised to hear such a response. "Nobody's perfect." He uttered, his gaze averted to anywhere else but Alfred.

The American smiled. Now he remembered why he wanted to do this. "Okay..can I just..say something crazy?"

Arthur raised an eyebrow as he finally met Alfred's gaze "As long as you don't break out into song." Alfred noticed a quirk in his lips but it was soon covered by the tea cup.

Alfred chuckled. "Wanna go out?" He asked bluntly. Arthur almost spat out his tea but he managed to swallow and turn it into a kind of scoff instead.

The British man smirked and placed his cup of tea on the coffee table, letting his slender finger trace around the rim. "My my, if I didn't know any better I'd think you were asking me to be your boyfriend." The Briton's smirk deepened as he watched Alfred turn red.

"Oh..Um..I-I didn't mean...I J-Just meant, like..." He trailed off, the desire to avert his eyes was strong but he managed to hold his own.

Arthur chuckled lightly. "I know what you meant; we're adults after all, not school children. I just thought it would be humorous to say that. And it was." Alfred let out a sigh of relief but grew concerned as Arthur began tapping his chin thoughtfully. "So, where did you have in mind?" He asked.

"Oh, uhh...I dunno. I didn't really think this far ahead." he began nervously scratching the back of his neck, and frowned as Arthur scoffed. He was worried that Arthur was losing interest as he started eyeing up the novel that he had placed besides him. "B-But we could take a walk around central park."

Arthur met Alfred's gaze, intrigued.

"Or...we could go to the Empire State building, or we could take the trip down to Macy's, or we could get a ferry to Ellis island." He got more enthusiastic with each suggestion, and Arthur couldn't help but smile. "Or...anything you want. So, what do ya say, Arthur? Fancy hanging out with a stranger for the day?"

Alfred was confused as Arthur furrowed his brow. "..Hang on a second." Alfred watched hesitantly as Arthur glanced to his right in thought. He brought his gaze back to Alfred, and it was sharp. "I never once mentioned my name."

"Shit." Alfred muttered under his breath as he averted his eyes from Arthur's growing scowl.

"Francis put you up to this, didn't he?" Alfred knew better than to meet Arthur's gaze when he sounded so outraged. "That..frog-eating bastard! Make a fool out of me, will he?" The Brit didn't waste any time before getting out of his seat and putting on his coat and scarf hastily.

"Wait! I-I don't know anybody called Francis, I swear!" Alfred stuttered, but Arthur ignored him. "Please, just hear me out." Arthur paused to regard the American's pleading expression.

The blonde sighed before gesturing for Alfred to continue. "I...I have this problem.."He started, but Arthur just scoffed in response. "This will sound crazy but...I keep repeating this day. Thursday, February seventh."

Arthur snorted before shaking his head and heading towards the exit.

"Wait!" Alfred called. "How would I know that you're moving back to England tomorrow if it weren't true?" Arthur stopped in his tracks before briskly turning around. "And how would I know that you have a low tolerance when it comes to alcohol?" Arthur crossed his arms and averted his gaze; a light pink dusted his cheeks as he became aware that the coffee shop had now gone silent.

Alfred scanned his mind for more things to say to get Arthur to believe him, and that's when he realised - he still didn't know Arthur _at all_. It was clear that the stranger was losing interest, but he still had one risky card up his sleeve.

"And how would I know that you are _very_ good with your mouth?"

Arthur stared at Alfred, mortified. Alfred did nothing but smile sheepishly and watch the blonde's mouth open and close repeatedly. A moment later, Arthur stormed out of the coffee shop muttering 'git' under his breath.

Alfred sighed before slumping back into his seat. So far, he had achieved nothing. If Arthur's name hadn't slipped out of his stupid mouth then they would probably be on their way to central park by now and Alfred would slowly but surely be getting to know the real Arthur. Alfred tried to shake off the negative thoughts. Perhaps there was a positive to what had happened today; he was now allowed to assume that Arthur wasn't busy for the rest of the day – which meant that he should be able to see him more than just in the coffee shop in the morning and at the bar in the evening.

Alfred frowned. The Brit probably wouldn't give him the time of day after what had just happened, so he probably wouldn't be seeing him for the rest of the day.

* * *

><p>Alfred was feeling strangely optimistic as he signed onto the library computer. He found there to be many perks to repeating the same day – mainly that he could do whatever he wanted, and no one but himself would remember; He could make a complete ass of himself, and nobody would remember the next day; He could say whatever he wanted to that jerk Ivan – and he wouldn't remember the next day!<p>

Alfred whistled cheerily as he opened up Google on his web browser and began typing in _'_The Lady Chatterley's Lover' as he had remembered it. Alfred puffed out his cheeks upon reading 'Publication – 1928' – how was he supposed to discuss such an old and presumably boring book? Still, he was not going to give up. He clicked on the Wikipedia link and began skimming the text on the screen.

"The book soon became notorious for..blah blah blah.." Alfred read in a mumble. "Its explicit descriptions of sex...and its use of then-unprintable words." Alfred paused before snorting very loudly. Clearly, Arthur wasn't as much of a prude as he liked to let on. He was just another sex-craving, horny guy – but, what else was new? At least now he would be able to tease him about it without bringing up _the evening which Arthur didn't know anything about._

Alfred couldn't stop laughing as he closed the browser and logged out of the computer. _'So he reads porn, basically. He may as well have been reading Fifty Shades of Grey! I bet he has that one too, I'll have to ask him next time.'_

Alfred then left the library, confident that he wouldn't need any more information on Arthur's choice of literature.

* * *

><p>The blonde munched on a bag of potato chips as he watched some late-night television. He didn't even consider going to the bar this time, it would have, undoubtedly, ended in disaster. The American then jumped as he heard a loud knock on his door, causing some chips to fall out of the bag and onto the comforter below.<p>

"Shit." He mumbled before stumbling off of his bed and towards the front door; opening it to find Toris, whose brows were furrowed. The Lithuanian opened his mouth to speak but stopped as Alfred let out a long sigh.

"I know. You got fired because I didn't come into work." The American averted his gaze to the floor as he leant on the door frame. "I'm real sorry about that."

Toris let out a long sigh after a moment, and Alfred finally met his gaze. "It's...It's alright, Al. I suppose...it wasn't really your fault." The brunette scratched nervously at his arm and Alfred assumed that he was feeling bad for having wanted to come and shout at him. The smaller man smiled softly to Alfred who returned his smile. His brows furrowed again "Ivan he...has the tendency to go overboard.."

"Damn straight." Alfred crossed his arms and let a slight kink form on the side of his mouth as he reminded himself of how vulnerable his boss had looked the day he had walked out of work.

"Al.." Alfred snapped out of his thoughts and met Toris' gaze; he looked concerned. "Please just..don't do anything stupid."

Alfred couldn't help but chuckle. "I can't promise that. You know what I'm like." Toris laughed along with him this time, but Alfred could still detect the worry in his expression. "Don't worry. I'll get you your job back." The American smiled as his friend seemed to be physically calmed by his words.

"I trust you." Alfred frowned. Toris was his best friend, he trusted him too – didn't he? "Ah, I better get going." Alfred watched as his neighbour turned to leave.

"Hey..Toris?" The Lithuanian turned around upon hearing his name.

"Yeah Al?" Alfred looked down at his feet as he started scuffing them on the carpet before meeting Toris' gaze a short while later. The brunette was smiling softly.

Alfred smiled back. "Nah, it's nothing." Toris looked confused "I'll tell you tomorrow." His friend nodded before waving and entering his own apartment.

Alfred shut the front door and rested his forehead on the cold wood before sighing. He didn't like lying to Toris, but he just couldn't bring himself to tell him about his situation. He had attempted it before, and Toris just thought he was being silly so there was a chance that he would never believe him – no matter how serious he sounded. This was why it was so important for him to get to know Arthur, he told himself. Once he knew Arthur inside-out, he would know the exact right way to approach him about the situation and then he would finally not be alone. Someone would finally believe him. Now he just had to wait for that perfect day to come along when he would vent to Arthur and the Brit would turn around and say 'You know what? You're not crazy'.

Alfred laughed at his own naivety. What was he thinking? He wasn't making any sense. The American flopped onto his bed before turning off the TV. He rolled onto his back and let out another sigh. Alfred was lying to himself; he knew he didn't want to tell Toris because he didn't want to _feel_ crazy. Toris was his best friend after all; he was afraid that the one person he had always relied on would turn him away. And then what would he do? He was lost. Perhaps he thought of Arthur as his light at the end of the tunnel; his key to finding a way out of this infinite loop.

_Or maybe he just liked Arthur's company._

* * *

><p><em><strong>Day 7<strong>_

"The Lady Chatterley's Lover, huh?"

"Mhmm. I doubt you've ever heard of it." Arthur didn't move his gaze from his book. Alfred smirked.

"Actually, I have." He watched as the blonde slowly placed his book down, his cheeks had tinted a light pink. "Yeah. It was published in 1928 and is well known for its explicit descriptions of-"

"And? What of it?" He snapped before lifting the book back up to hide his scowl and pink-dusted cheeks.

"I just think that the books people read say a lot about their character." Alfred was surprised to see Arthur put his book down and meet his gaze.

"So, you assume I am perverted?" He gaze was sharp, but Alfred kept his cool.

"No. I assume that you are a hopeless romantic who strives for passion and a fulfilled sex life." He noticed the Bit's eyes widening before he averted his gaze to the floor, blushing in embarrassment. There was no doubt that Alfred had hit nail on the head.

"And..what if I am?" Arthur asked a short while later. He hesitated before meeting Alfred's gaze as he sipped his tea.

The American shrugged. "Good on ya, I guess." Alfred couldn't help grinning as he noticed Arthur smiling into his tea cup.

Alfred finished off his coffee before getting up and putting on his coat.

"You're leaving?" Alfred heard a hint of disappointment in his voice, which made him grin.

"Yeah. Come on, let's go."

"Excuse me?"

Alfred turned to Arthur with his hands on his hips. "Look. You can either stay here and do whatever you normally do by yourself all day, or you can come with a stranger and we can have loads of fun."

He watched as the Brit crossed his arms and bounced his foot lightly whilst averting his gaze to his right in thought.

"Fuck it." He finally uttered before getting out of his seat, putting on his coat and wrapping his scarf around his neck. Alfred just stared as he headed towards the door. The Brit noticed that the American wasn't following him, so he span back around. "Are you coming then?"

Alfred nodded enthusiastically before following Arthur out of the door.

* * *

><p>The pair started their day out at central park - as much as Alfred wanted to take Arthur on a ferry to Ellis Island, he was still broke. Plus, Central Park was simple he thought - Just the two of them, walking, <em>talking<em>.

"So, what's your name?" Arthur raised an eyebrow to Alfred. "Your name. You never told me your name."

Arthur chuckled. "Oh, right. I didn't realise, how rude of me."

"It's cool, dude." Alfred stopped walking as he noticed Arthur had stopped too. When he turned he was greeted by a outstretched hand. "Erm..what is this?"

Arthur scowled. "It's called being polite. You should try it sometime." Alfred snorted. "Well? Are you going to shake my hand or not?"

A moment later Alfred surprised the stranger by grabbing his hand and pulling him in for a bro hug. The warmth of Arthur reminded him off the night they had shared days ago and all of the memories and emotions regarding that came flooding back. He broke away quickly.

Arthur stood, dazed for a short moment before bringing himself back to his senses with a gentle shake of his head. A moment later the Brit forcefully took Alfred's hand in his own and gave it a firm shake.

"Arthur. Arthur Kirkland."

Alfred beamed. "Alfred F. Jones." He could have sworn that Arthur lingered for a moment but, before he knew it, his hand was back in his coat pocket.

"Alfred." Arthur said, as if to see how it sounded coming from his own mouth. He met the American's gaze "Alfred, if you ever do that again, I will not hesitate to punch you."

Alfred snorted, the look in Arthur's eyes said he wasn't kidding but Alfred knew by now that this was just what the Brit was like; He couldn't scare him off that easily.

The two strangers continued to walk around central park. Alfred tried to subtly ask Arthur questions in the hope that he would be enlightened about who Arthur Kirkland was, however he wasn't getting very far. He couldn't be too forceful though, if he ticked Arthur off then he might have to start all over again the next day – and he _really_ didn't have time for that.

"So, what brings you to New York?"

"I was wondering why you hadn't commented on my Britishness yet." Arthur stated as he pulled out a pair of burgundy gloves from his coat pocket. "I hope that you haven't mistaken me for a tourist and thought it would be fun to give me some kind of tour of New York City." Arthur hissed and gave Alfred a sharp glare as he slid the right glove on, to which he shook his head in response.

"Nahh. I don't think a tourist would spend their vacation in a coffee shop reading porn."

"Oi." Arthur whacked Alfred with the left glove. "It's not porn. It's a novel that just happens to contain some sexual description." He stated, pulling the second glove on and being sure not to look Alfred in the eye.

"Oh, I've been meaning to ask." Arthur met Alfred's gaze, and raised an eyebrow as he found him to be grinning. "You read Fifty Shades of Grey?"

"And so what if I have?" Arthur crossed his arms, refusing to be embarrassed by the question.

"Did you enjoy it?"

"And so what if I did?" Alfred snorted and Arthur's mouth quirked at the corners. "Actually, it wasn't the best piece of erotica I've read."

"Oh _really_?" Alfred titled his glasses down his nose before wiggling his eyebrows and Arthur couldn't help but chuckle.

"Indeed." The two stayed silent for a moment, just enjoying each other's company, and Arthur took the opportunity to take off his scarf and double-wrap it around his neck again.

"God, you're so horny."

"Excuse me!" Arthur exclaimed, cheeks burning red as he stopped in his tracks to point a finger at Alfred. "I'm the horny one? I would bet money that you wank to porn every night!"

"Haha...wank."

"Shut up!" The American burst out laughing and Arthur scowled before whacking him on the shoulder with the back of his hand. He sighed. "You're absolutely ridiculous. Do you know that?"

"..So I've been told."

* * *

><p>"It's strange to think we met just this morning." Arthur stated before taking a sip of his tea.<p>

"Mhmm yeah.."

"I feel like I've known you longer." Alfred looked up from his hot cocoa.

"Y-You do?"

Arthur chuckled lightly. "Yeah. It's the strangest feeling." He placed his cup on the coffee table before stretching his arms out in front of him. "I suppose it's because you were so friendly to begin with. To tell you the truth, I've never met anyone like you the whole three years I've been here."

"Oh yeah. You never did tell me what brought you to the US." Arthur winced as Alfred started noisily slurping up his hot drink.

"Well.." Arthur pulled both of his legs onto the sofa and glanced at Alfred to find him looking quite interested. He sighed. "The first time I came here was on a school trip in year eleven, that's tenth grade for you. I was quite looking forward to it since I hadn't been to America before and I've always been interested about leaning about other cultures. Unfortunately, I grew ill a couple of days before the trip but I still wanted to go, of course. Plus, my parents had already paid the money for the trip – which was very over-priced, I might add." Arthur glanced to Alfred who seemed to be hanging on his every word, he rested his cheek in his hand. "Anyway, it was February so it was cold and there was snow and I was feeling really under the weather so it wasn't that great for me. We went to Times Square, the 9/11 memorial, Macy's and The Empire State building – the places you would expect. But, everything was quite..."

"Sucky?" Arthur scoffed.

"I guess you could say that. I mean, we were constantly being monitored and, well, I was sick. It didn't help that we had to walk everywhere we went and I was always at the back of the group having the teachers say 'Come on Arthur, hurry it along now.' Well excuse me for being too sick to walk fast in the freezing cold, my bad."

Alfred burst out laughing, to which Arthur couldn't help but smile. "Oh man..dude, you're hilarious."

"I try."

"So if you hated it so much, why'd ya come back?"

Arthur paused for a moment, pursing his lips. "I don't know...the opportunity arose and...I guess I wanted to give New York another try."

Alfred grinned, Arthur was totally opening up to him. The two didn't say anything else for a while, they were both content just sipping at their drinks. However, Alfred noticed Arthur staring into his empty cup for far too long.

"..Arthur?"

"I love it here." The Brit muttered. "God..damn it." He placed his cup onto the coffee table before dragging his hands down his face.

Alfred watched as he bit the inside of his cheek, not really knowing how to respond.

"You've reminded me of why I love this place." Arthur said, his voice wavering slightly. He groaned before letting himself fall onto his back, his head resting on Alfred's lap. "I don't want to leave." He whispered after a moment.

"Then don't."

"I have to."

"Why?"

"Everything has already been organised and my mother..She's...being difficult." Arthur sighed, and Alfred stayed silent, waiting for him to continue. "Did I mention that I may have ran off to New York?"

Alfred snorted and began playing with Arthur's bangs. "Nope. Wow Artie, I never knew you were such a rebel."

"Don't ever call me that." Arthur scowled up at Alfred who stuck his tongue out at him – he was unaware if his disliked the idea of being called 'Artie' or 'a rebel', but he supposed he'd figure that out later. Arthur rolled his eyes before continuing "As I was saying..I ran away to New York because of..things I'd rather not get into right now." Alfred frowned but nodded, silently vowing to himself that he would find out the reason. "So a while back she made me agree on a date to return home, and I just went along with it because well..I wasn't having the best time in New York and..I thought that going home might not have been so bad."

Arthur quickly sat up before turning to Alfred; their faces only inches apart. "But now you've ruined everything!" Alfred had no time to respond before Arthur got off of the sofa and headed to his kitchen. A moment later he returned with a bottle of whiskey and one glass.

Alfred watched as the Brit poured himself a drink and swallowed. And then he poured himself another one. And another one.

"_Okay_. I think you've had enough of this now." Alfred got up to grab the bottle from Arthur, who had a tight grip on it, but let it go after a short moment.

"Whatever," Arthur shrugged. "I'll probably go to a bar tonight anyway."

"What?" Alfred pouted. "Wouldn't you rather spend the evening with me?" Alfred wasn't fully aware of what he had just said until he received a devilish smirk from Arthur.

"I thought you'd never ask." Alfred swallowed as Arthur slid in next to him. He shivered as the Brit's delicate fingers began tracing up the inside of his thigh.

"S-So horny." Arthur raised an eyebrow to Alfred as his hand was moving closer and closer to his crotch by each touch of his fingertips. "I-I mean you're so-" He was cut off by his own gasp as Arthur boldly cupped his groin.

"I'm so what, hmm?" Arthur purred into his ear.

Alfred gave a shaky chuckle "Holy shit...Arthur." Green eyes met blue and Alfred found himself tilting Arthur's chin to make way for a soft kiss.

Arthur was surprised by the soft lips that descended on his own, but was almost too eager to return the kiss. After all, who was he to reject such a kind gesture?

Arthur smiled as they broke away.

"Sorry Arthur, but..." The American anxiously scratched the back of his neck and the Brit frowned.

"No, I'm sorry." Arthur began before Alfred could finish. "I guess I do have the tendency to go too far." He averted his eyes away from Alfred before continuing. "It's just..you make me feel like...I know it's strange, since we only just met, and maybe this is just the liqueur talking, but.." He trailed off and Alfred smiled.

"Don't worry, I get it." Alfred couldn't hide the grin spreading onto his face.

"But tell anyone I said that and I'll hang you, upside down, off of the Empire State Building by your feet."

Arthur was surprised by the warmth he felt inside upon hearing the American laugh in response and refused to succumb to the charming smile that spread onto his lips.

"Your secret is safe with me."

* * *

><p><strong>AN:**  
>I still can't believe it's 2015 already! Time sure does fly. I hope everyone is having a good start of the year so far! :)<br>Arthur's first time in New York was actually inspired by my own first time in New York; I had been sick and forced to walk everywhere, but I still never complained! Also, please don't kill me for that Frozen reference, oh lord - perhaps Frozen is secretly Arthur's favourite film? B)

Anyways, thanks again for reading and reviews make me smileeeee :))))


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